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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


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ENTITLED JCHE. -IBQHKL  EE  ALIS1L  _QZ  _ ALFEEE.  _ GJ1PJIS_ 


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . 

I wish  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  forbearance  and 
aid  that  Dr.  Arthur  Hamilton  has  show  me  in  the  prepar- 
ation of  this  paper. 


■ 


2ABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Chapter 
B (DO GRAPHICAL . 

Chapter 
THE  LITERARY  NATURE 
Chapter 

CAPUS  AND  LUCK. 

Chapter 

CAPUS  AND  DIVORCE. 

Chapter 


I. 

II. 

OF  CAPUS. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 


CAPUS  AND  THE  NEW  WOMAN. 


Chapter  VI. 


CAPUS  AND  HIGH  FINANCE. 

Chapter  VII. 

CONCLUSION. 


■■ 


Chapter  I 
Biographical . 

Although  his  day  is  near  its  close, Alfred  Capus  is 
perhaps  now  one  of  the  most  enjoyed  of  the  French  comic 
dramati sts .He  is  not  the  typical  popular  dramatist  of  the 
day, who  folds  his  tent  and  silently  steals  away  as  soon  as 
the  night  is  upon  him. He  is  not, to  use  an  American  compari- 
son, a man  who  is  as  Avery  Hopwood,who  writes  a naughty  play 
or  two  and  then  subsides  in  favor  of  his  more  lucky  successor 
who  can  satisfy  the  more  present  wants  of  the  fickle  public 
in  a better  fashion. He  has  succeded  as  few  men  do  in  giving 
the  public  what  it  wants.lt  has  not  always  been  what  the  crit- 
ics wanted, but  it  has  got  by, and  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
French  Acaderny.it  will  continue  to  get  by  for  years  to  come, 
for  Capus  is  now  one  of  the  immortals. 

Capus  is  a son  of  the  South.  He  was  born  at  Aix, 
Provence,  in  1858.  His  early  years  wore  spent  there, and 

after  some  preliminary  schooling  at  Toulon, he  went  to  Paris 
at  the  age  of  fourteen. Fourteen  is  a very  impressionable  age, 
and  the  city  of  light  fascinated  him. The reupon, he  had  the 
ambition  ,and  who  is  to  say  whether  it  was  a lofty  one  or 
not, of  becoming  a true  bou'levardier . But  this  first  flush  did 
not  prevent  him  from  pursuing  his  first  intentions  of  be- 
coming a mining  engineer,  and  he  accordingly  entered  a tech- 
nical school.  But  this  noble  will  power  seems  to  have  faded, 
for  after  a few  years  of  half-hearted  study, or  so  we  are  led 
to  believe, he  failed  to  get  the  degree  that  would  make  him 
a full-fledged  engineer. 


2 


He  saw  that  he  had  been  ?/rong  in  choosing  his  life's 
work, and  that  practical  science  was  not  the  field  in  which  he 
would  do  his  best  work. In  this  he  was  not  alone, for  many  an- 
other French  author  has  had  the  aarne  beginning, among  whom 
one  may  number  Maurice  Donnay.But  the  young  Capus  had  the  prob 
lem  of  earning  a living  before  him, and  he  followed  his  inclin- 
ations. He  made  his  first  venture  into  the  field  of  letters 
in  collaboration  with  a certain  L.  Vonoven  in  a volume  of 
short  stories  and  sketches  called  Les  Konnetes  Gens.  How 
successful  this  attempt  was  is  not  known.lt  must  have  been 
fairly  so, for  the  next  year  the  collaborators  had  a play, 
he  Mar i rnalgre  lui  , produced  at  the  Theatre  Gluny. 

This  literary  seems  soon  to  have  dissolved , for  Capus 
spent  the  next  three  years  in  looking  for  a permanent  posi- 
tion. When  one  spends  that  length  of  time  in  looking  for 
something  to  give  a livelihood , he  is  pretty  sure  to  reach 
grievous  straits  before  long. He  knew  all  the  experiences  of 
the  struggling  young  author.  We  do  not  know  whether  he  lived 
in  a garret  in  the  conventional  fashion  or  not, or  whether 
he  subsisted  on  rye  bread  and  onions , sometimes  on  rye  bread, 
and  sometimes  on  onions,and  when  he  was  flush  on  both, or 
not, but  we  do  know  that  his  life  was  anything  but  easy  dur- 
ing these  three  long  years. 

At  the  end  of  this  time,  and  with  nothing  in  sight,  it 

is  needless  to  say  that  Capus  was  in  a rather  gloomy  state  of 
mind,  and  had  just  resigned  himself  to  leaving  France  to 
practice  his  half-learned  profession  abroad.  But  at  the  right 
time  his  chance  came, and  he  was  encouraged  to  stick  a little 


3. 

longer.  The  fates, by  some  whimsy  or  ot her , gr ante d hima 
small  sum  of  money,  through  the  veiy  timely  death  of  a 
relative, and  Capus  started  on  his  quest  anew. 

Hot  long  after  this, about  1882, he  got  a position  on 
Le  Clairon,  a Paris  newspaper , through  the  kind  offices  of 
his  friends  Paul  Hervieu  and  Marcel  Prevost.  The  next  year  he 
had  the  chance  to  better  himself  on  a new  review, Les  Grimaces , 
under  the  leadership  of  Octave  Mirbeau,and  it  is  needless  to 
say  that  he  accepted  it  without  delay.  Then  a little  later  he 
went  to  the  staff  of  Gaulois.  By  this  time  Capus  was  a- 
ttr acting  some  attention  ,and  had  begun  to  contribute  to 
various  periodicals , such  as  L 'Echo  de  Paris.L ' Illustration, 
and  La  Revue  Bleue .Meant ime  he  was  writing  novels, four  of 
which  appeared  Before  his  first  play.  The  are:  Qui  Perd  Gagne , 
t ftgn  T?an y I)£oar  ts.1891  ,honsiour  veut  Hire  ,1893 , and  Anriees 
d 'Aventures ,1894.  The  year  that  his  last  novel  appeared, he 
changed  positions  once  more, this  time  going  to  the  staff  of 
Figrro .where  he  has  remained  to  this  day.  He  is  at  present 
joint  editor  of  the  paper  with  Robert  de  Elers.In  1914  Capus 
was  made  a member  of  the  Erench  Academy. 

Capus  is  unmarried  and  belongs  to  no  secret  societies. 


4 


Chapter  II. 

THE  LITERARY  NATURE  OF  CAP  US. 

Mr.  Frank  W.  Chandler  in  his  "Contemporary  Drama  of 
France ''calls  Capus  an’ironic  realist,  1 and  goes  on  to  ex- 
plain himself.  To  mind  a realist  is  a ipan  whose  task  is 

"to  face  the  facts  of  life  rather  than  to  fly  from  1hem,to 
resist  the  temptation  merely  to  record  such  f abts , rather 
than  to  subject  them  to  an  intelligent  ordering  (as  Sardou 
does),  to  look  upon  the  actual  unafraid, neither  depressed  or 
elate, — such  is  the  business  of  the  realist  "(2) . But  Capus 
is  more  than  this  sort  of  dramatist  to  him, and  he  goes  on  to 
define  the  ironic  realist.  Says  he:  "Ironic  realists  are  those 
whose  temperament  necessarily  affects  their  reactions  upon 
observed  reality ,who  stand  apart  from  the  human  drama,  amused 
or  scornful, but  prepared  to  interpret  without  undue  intrusions 
of  heart  or  conscience  (3)1'  All  of  which  is  very  well. 

It  does  not  seem  that  either  of  these  definitions  are 
entirely  suited  to  the  dramatist  Capus.  He  is  not  a realist 
in  the  sense  that  Chandler  would  have  him.  To  my  mind  the 
realism  of  Capus  is  a qualified  realism,  a realism  that  he 

has  made  for  himself , although  it  is  real  enough  for  stage 
purposes.  In  a lecture  Capus  is  credited  with  having  said 

in  reference  to  modern  society  that  it  does  not  lend  itself 
readily  to  dramatic  treatment , "fo  r to  use  a metaphor  from 
photography, it  vail  never  sit  still  long  enou^i  to  be  snapped. n 
(4).  V.hich  seems  true  enough.  But  to  pursue  the  photographie 
metaphor  a little  farther, it  is  possible  to  make  "stills"  of 


5. 

it,  in  the  manner  that  our  moving  pictures  do.  Capus  has 
posed  his  personnages  in  the  best  studio  manner.  His  plots 

and  scenes  are  well  within  the  hounds  of  reality,  hut  they  have 
been  made  so  by  the  hands  of  the  artist  with  selected  matwr- 
ials.In  ordinary  life,  whose  portrayal  is  the  self-imposed  duty 
of  the  realist, one  vroudl  hardly  expect  to  find  thrown  together 
such  characters  as  Brignol,the  Commandant  Brunet, and  his 
nephew  Maurice, whom  we  find  in  Brignol^t  sa  fille.  They  are 
real  enough  characters  in  themselves , but  they  have  had  their 
milieu  chosen  for  them.  Of  course  Capus  can  lay  the  whole 
matter  at  the  feet  of  luck,  as  he  is  inclined  to  do  in  many 
of  his  plays, but  that  would  be  rather  overworking  coincidence. 

For  the  realism  of  Capus  is  distinctly  a different 
one  from  that  of  Brieux,  or  of  Porto  Riche, or  of  Our el, or  of 
Lavedan,if  only  the  more  representative  plays  are  considered. 
That  may, of  course,  be  laid  to  the  fact  that  Capus  is  a comic 
dramatist , but  that  does  not  entirely  explain  away  the  diffi- 
culty in  definition.  The  inclinations  of  the  man  Capus  have 
been  such  that  he  has  been  compelled  to  use  the  particular 
genre  that  he  has, the  gain  the  ends  he  is  seeking. For  he  is 

a man  of  his  own  will, and  is  not  likely  to  be  sways  d to  a very 
great  extent  by  principles  and  theories. He  hasn  not  been  a 
realist  purposely, but  has  rather  fallen  into  it  as  being  the 
most  convenient  for  his  needs.  His  needs  may  be  said  to  be 
dictated  by  a cynic  and  boule var  dier , who  is  not  interested  in 
the  ordinary  for  its  wwn  sake, but  only  in  so  far  as  he  can 
use  it  for  his  own  ends.^s  a result  of  this  he  writes  as  he 
does. 


. 


* 


6. 


In  th  e matter  of  Capua’  irony, one  is  somewhat  at  a 
loss  as  to  what  to  say.  Chandler  says  that  he  is  ir-onic,  and 
several  other  critics  find  that  he  has  this  peculiar  quali- 
ty. There  is  classic  irony  and  romantic  irony, hut  whoever  heard 
of  realistic  irony? 

Irony  one  finds  defined  as  ”a  form  of  speech  in  which 
the  real  meaning  is  concealed  or  contradicted  hy  the  words." 

The  same  source  goes  on  to  define  classic, or  tragic, irony  as 
follows:  "In  this  form  of  irony  the  words  and  actions  of  the 
characters  belie  the  real  situation, which  the  spectators 
fully  realize.  It  may  take  several  forms;  the  character  speak- 
ing may  be  conscious  of  the  irony  of  his  words  while  the  rest 
of  the  actors  may  not, or  he  may  be  unconscious  and  the  actors 
share  the  knowledge  with  the  spectators,  or  the  spectators 
may  alone  realize  irony.  The  Oedipus  Tyrannus  of  Sophocles 
is  the  classic  example  of  tragic  irony  at  its  fullest  and 
finest . "(5) 

This  is  particularly  applicable  to  that  drama  which 
treats  of  subjects  familiar  to  the  audience, so  that  it  follows 
the  lines  of  the  play, as  its  author  has  conceived  it  and  always 
keeps  in  close  intellectual  contact  with  him.  But  that  can  not  b 
be  done  in  the  case  of  the  comic  realist, as  is  Capus. 

Nor  does  the  idea  of  romantic  irony  seem  to  apply, al- 
though Capus  may  be  called  something  of  a sentimentalist. 

Says  one  ?/riter:"The  romantic  realist ....  is  ready  to  mock  at 

his  o wn  convictions" ( 6 ) . One  doubts  vhether  Capus  is  ready  to 
do  this  or  nat,  although  he  may  be  mocking  at  something.  The 


t 


7 


writer  above  quoted  goes  on  to  say:”  the  romantic  realist 
shatters  the  illusion  wantonly.  It  is  as  though  he  wpuld  in- 
flict the  disillusion  on  others  from  which  he  himself  has  su 

suffered."  ( 7 ) 

This  may  perhaps  be  what  Chandler  meant  when  he  called 
Capus  an  ironic  realist, a man  that  has  looked  upon  life  and 
found  that  it  has  not  nearly  the  grandeur  that  its  press 
agents  have  assigned  it.  For  we  must  remember  that  Capus  is  a 
boulevar  die  r , that  to  be  one  was  one  of  his  first  ambitions, 
and  that  he  devoted  himself  for  some  time  to  perfecting  him- 
self in  that  metier . And  a boulevardier  is  no  Rousseauistic 
romanticist, or  little  brother  of  the  poor, nor  a man  of  any 
great  faith.  He  is  by  nature  a cynic  and  a doubter, one  who 
mocks  and  is  scornful.  He  has  found  life  rather  empty  and 
without  any  special  meaning,and  &e  has  the  bad  habit, one 
might  say, of  breaking  his  spoiled  eggs  before  the  rest  of 
deluded  humanity. 

But  one  must  not  get  the  idea  that  Capus  is  a pessi- 
mist. For  ke  is  anything  but  that  . He  finds  no  little  enjoy- 
ment in  life  as  it  is,  although  he  does  it  with  his  tongue  in 
his  cheek, and  he  goes  to  bed  every  night  with  the  contented 
knowledge  that  it  is  not  worth  a candle. 

Capus  , it  must  be  rent -inhered , is  a native  of  the  South, 
and  whoever  heard  of  such  a man  being  a pessimist, or  going 
mad, or  shooting  himself  unless  it  was  over  a love  affair? 

Capu3  has  nature  to  help  him  in  keeping  a certain  optimism, 
but  the  boulevard  has  also  made  him  something  of  a cynic, para- 
doxical as  it  may  seem. 


8 


Then  there  is  another  thing  that  disproves  any  pessi- 
mism on  the  part  of  Capus. Along  hack  at  the  time  of  the  Theatre 
Libre , and  the  beginning  of  naturalism, there  was  a sort  of 
counter  movement  started  to  counteract  the  gloomy  and  hopeless 
plays  of  such  men  as  Zola  and  others.  There  was  no  definite 

school  that  we  know  of  that  had  such  an  avowed  purpose, bit 
if  it  be  assumed  that  there  was  such  a school,  one  critic  says: 
"The  school  M.  Capus  belonged  to  reacted  against  this  dogma 
(i.e.  that  a playnto  be  realistic  had  to  be  gloomy  and  pessi- 
mistic ),  discovered  a new  way  of  being  modern,  invented  a 
theater  designed  to  prove  that  plays  without  pessimism 
needn't  taste  as  if  the  modern  salt  had  been  left  out  ".(8) 

As  a result  the  earlier  plays  are  particularly  op- 
timistic. One  may  imagine  Capus  saying  to  himself : "The  average 
human  is  morally  down  at  heel, but  what  of  it  so  long  as  many 
human  beings, not  a bit  above  the  aver age, are  kindly  and  lively 
and  worth  listening  to?"  (9)  And  says  the  critic: "To  save  the 
optimism  of  this  kind  from  fatuity  was  easy  for  M.  Capus, who 
tempered  it  with  many  strokes  of  tart  observation  and  by  a 
humour  that  seems  indifferent  to  its  truth. "(10) 

And  if  perhaps  M. Capus  lost  a little  of  his  optimism 

in  his  later  plays, it  is  not  so  grave  a thing,for  he  still  has 
his  gift  of  amusing  us. 

His  irony, then, reduces  itself  to  a certain  light 
csmicism,a  certain  scorn  of  things  as  they  are  that  a man  of 
Capus’  nature  and  habitat  can  not  help  but  have,  and  which 
are  perhaps  rather  salutary  in  the  long  run.  They  give  one  an 
aloofness  that  is  very  protective. 


. 

. 


9 


In  considering  the  works  of  Alfred  Capus  , a great 
deal  of  time  and  trouble  will  be  saved  if  only  the  better 
playsa  are  taken  into  account.  The  others  when  read,  give 
one  the  impression  that  they  are  very  thin  stuff , and  that 
their  author  must  have  been  in  need  of  money,  or  suffering 
from  a case  of  bad  judgement  when  he  allowed  them  to  be  pub- 
lished. According  to  Barret  H. Clark  "in  forming  a critical 

i 

judgement  of  Capus'  work  ,we  should  of  course  take  into 
account  the  seven  or  eight  really  significant  plays. ..La  Veine , 
Brignol  et osa  fill e,Les  beux  Bcoles,La  Petite  Fonctionnaire . 
Rosine ,-ues  Lar i s de  ueontine.  ....  "(11)  . And  according  to 
Chandler  we  ajrny  possibly  add  two  others  that  Capus  wrote  in 
collaboration:! 'Aventurier . and  l 'Attentat . And  to  make  the  list 
as  representative  as  possible, without  making  it  too  long, one 
might  add  La  Bourse  ou  la  vie. 

Scrutiny  shall  be  directed, then, toward  these  plays 
especially,  in  a consideration  of  Capus  as  an  ironic  realist. 


» . 


10 


Chapter  III. 

CAPUS  AND  LUCK. 

Long  before  Capus  had  ever  written  a play  he  had  taken 

exception  to  the  rule  that  earlynto  bed  and  early  to  rise 

makea  man  healthy, wealthy, and  wise  and  that  a penny  saved 

is  a penny  earned. There  is  not  a copy  of  Anne e s d1 Aventure 

to  be.  had, but  I believe  that  it  is  somewhere  in  that  novel 

that  Capus  philosophizes  to  this  effect; 

"Quelle  illusion  de  croire  que  les  evenements  de  notre 
existence  s’enchainent  et  se  command enti  Notre  vie  est 
une  courte  serie  d’anecdotes  racontees  sans  lien;notre 
ame  est  changeante  et  variable  corn  e elle;nos  sentiments 
sont  aussi  imprevus  que  des  reves;et  ce  so  nt  des  lois 
eternellement  ignorees  aui  nous  donnent  avec  indifference 
les  joies  et  les  peines,les  snatins  lumineux,les  heures 
lourdes  et  obscure s ." (12) 

This  is  not  a very  profound  philosophy, but  then  what  can  one 
expect  from  a native  of  the  South,  a boulevardicr ,and  a 
skeptic?It  i3  a philosophy,  but  a philosophy  of  a lartarin, 
or  to  go  further  Last, an  Omar  Khayam. 

But  it  is  not  the  philosophy  of  a man  who  is  faithful 
to  his  v/ife  and  who  commutes  daily  and  eats  three  heavy  meals 
a day  and  is  satisfied  with  the  wifold  as  he  has  found  it. 

It  is  the  philosophy  of  a man  who  is  not  satisfied  with 
the  traditional  order  of  things.who  believes  that  axioms 
alone  can  not  make  a man  successful , that  no  matter  how  many 
"success"  or "per sonali ty  " books  he  may  read,  ha  can  not 
achieve  his  coveted  ends  unless  his  most  capricious  mistresses, 
the  fates, have  it  in  their  mind  to  help  him.  And  that  , of  course, 
has  its  basis  in  a very  old  philosophy  of  the  Creeks  .Fatalism, 


* 


„ 


11 


we  are  told,  was  the  philosophy  of  a dying  race  and  the  child 
of  blasphemous  and  heterodox  paganism.  But  camot  a man, and 
a good  Christian  at  that, be  the  exponent  of  this  creed, if  he 
be  cynical  enough? 

That  is  the  state  that  Cap  us  is  in  when  he  preached 
"everything  will  come  out  all  right  in  the  end"  as  he  does 
in  Brignol  et  sa  fille,  his  first  play . 

In  this  play  v/e  have  Brignol,  a dr  earner,  who  is  con- 
stantly on  thenpoint  of  closing  some  very  advantageous  busi- 
ness transaction  but  never  quite  finishes, who  has  come  to 
Paris  because  he  has  not  been  able  to  make  a living  in  his 
native  provincial  city. This  move  has  been  made  in  spite  of  the 
vigorous  protests  of  his  brother-in-law, Valpierre , and  of  that 
worthy  man's  wife.  His  condition  has  not  been  appreciably Na 
bettered  as  we  see  in  £he  very  first  scene , wherein  the  con- 
cierge is  shown  trying  to  get  the  last  half  year  ' s rent, but 
is  put  off  with  the  most  extravagant  promises. And  to  make 

things  wor se  ,Val pierre  and  wife  are  due  to  arrive  in  a last 
attempt  to  bring  Brignol  back  In  reason, as  these  worthy  pro- 
vincials see  it.  This  move  does  not  succeed, and  things  are  made 
still  worse  when  the  Commandant  Brunet  comes  to  reclaim  some 
thrity  thousand  francs  that  he  has  entrusted  to  Brignol,in 
order  not  to  lose  them  at  baccarat.  Brignol  has  of  course  in- 
vested tftem  in  some  will-o’-the-wisp  money  making  scheme  and 
has  succeded  in  losing  the  entire  amount.  Things  begin  to  look 
very  dark.  Happily  the  nephew  of  the  irascible  Brunet  happens 
along,  and  is  very  much  taken  with  Cecile , Brignol’ s partner 
and  daughter. The  uncle  is  in  anything  but  a sweet  temper  at 


< 


. 


. 

, 


12 


the  thought  of  not  being  able  to  lose  all  his  funds  at  bacca- 
rat, and  threatens  everything  , including  a lav/suit,  in  which 
Brignol,for  obvious  reasons,  does  not  wish  to  become  involved. 
Maurice  being  somwehat  groggy  from  his  first  view  of  Cecile, 

agrees  to  bring  Brunet  back  to  reason.  He  does  this  and  gains 
Brignol  a little  time  in  which  to  get  the  money.  But  the 
money  can  not  be  got , and  Maurice  finally  has  to  loan  the 
amount  to  Brignol.  Love  is  blind.  He  rises  quite  appreciably 
in  the  esteem  of  Brignol,  and.  as  much  so  in  the  esteem  of 
Cecile , the reby  making  the  affair  quite  inexpensi  ve  for  him. He 
frequents  the  Brignol  household  a great  deal, and  gi  ves  them 
theatre  tickets  and  looks  out  for  them  in  various  small  ways. 
Meantime  Brignol  has  become  involved  with  a certain  man  of 
affairs, Carriard, who  has  promised  Brignol  a very  substantial 
position  in  a factory  that  he  is  buying,in  exchange  for  the 
hand  of  Cecils.  Brignol  with  the  best  intentions  in  the  world 
has  agreed  to  this, but  when  the  time  comes  for  final  settle- 
ment, he  is  not  so  sure, for  he  is  pretty  certain  that  Ce'clle 
is  in  love  with  Maurice, and  he  is  inclined  to  think  that 
Maurice  will  make  the  better  and  more  desirable  husband  of 
the  two.  At  last  the  news  has  to  be  broken  to  Carriard  that 
he  is  the  loser, and  he  becomes  as  wrathful  as  the  Commandant 
has  been  over  certain  sums  of  money  that  he  has  lent  Brignol. 
Then  there  comes  a serious  note  in  the  play.  It  occurs  to  Mme . 
Brignol  that  Cecile  is  well  on  the  way  to  being  compromised, 
for  she  has  doubts  as  to  the  intentions  of  Maurice, of  which 
the  young  man  himself  in  not  any  too  sure.  He  has  been  around 
the  house  continually, but  has  exhibited  no  matrimonial  incli- 


t 


. 


- 


13 


nations  as  yet*  To  avoid  any  na.sty  consequence  s , the  family 
ggrees  that  decile  shall  be  packed  off  to  Poitiers  with  her 
uncle.  When  Maurice  hears  this, he  makes  up  his  mind, with  the 
aid  of  his  uncle  Brunet, and  everything  comes  out  as  it  should. 
There  is  only  a lawsuit  hanging  ova’  Brignol's  head  with 
Carriard,  bfct  he  is  confident  that  everything  will  come  otu 
all  right.  And  for  a paternal  benediction  to  his  daughter  he 
says:"3h  bien,vous  le  voyez...tout  s' arrange!  "(13) 

This  was  the  first  play  that  Gapus  had  tried  by  him- 
self and  there  are  numerous  faults  that  are  found  in  every 
playwright's  first  work.  The  dialogue, for  instance, is  far 
different  from  that  of  ten  years  later.  The  speeches  are 
too  long  as  a whole,  and  many  a good  situation  has  not  been 
made  all  that  it  might  have  been.  A case  in  pointiis  Scene  7 
of  Act  III.  It  is  the  only  big  scene  that  Maurice  and  uecile 
have,  and  interesting  as  it  is,  it  is  not  as  great  as  it  mi  git  have 
been.  As  was  said  before  the  speeches  are  too  long,  some  of 
them  being  as  many  as  forty  lines  in  length.  Lovers,  even  in 
the  situation  that  the  pair  was  in  are  never  as  oratorical  as 
Capus  has  made  them.  There  is  a great  deal  more  thoguht  than  is 
said, thoughts  are  advanced  timidly, and  perhaps  ne'ver  finished, 
and  there  is  a great  reserve  that  we  do  not  find  in  our  lovers 
of  this  scenem  And  there  are  other  instances  of  this  same  over- 
sight,the  working  up  to  a good  scene, and  then  bungling  it, but 
the  dialogue  is  anything  but  boresome.lt  is  merely  not  as 
smooth  as  it  is  to  become  later  in  the  dramatist's  career. 

The  realism  of  the  play, as  before  mentioned, is  a 
somewhat  selected  realism.  The  personnages  of  the  play  are 


14. 


taken  from  the  bourgeoisie , and  as  members  of  that  class  are  all 
that  they  should  be.  Brignol  has  a hundred  prototypes  in  very 
large  cities  and  in  no  matter  what  country.  And  they  have, ex- 
cept in  rare  instances , wives  and  daughters  very  like  Mme.  and 
Mile.  Brignol.  The  character  of  Brunet  is  t rue, per haps , but  is 
undoubtedly  less  known  than  that  of  the  others.  Maurice  is  an 

every  day  enough  young  man.  The  Valpierres  are  very  good  Stud- 
ies of  the  French  provincial , as  seen  thr  ough  the  eyes  of  the 

boulevar  dier . Carrier  d is  nothing  out  of  the  ordinary.  Of 
course  it  is  not  every  day  that  such  a collection  of  individ- 
uals are  thrown  together, but  then  what  are  the  odds, as  long 
as  they  are  inter e sting, as  these  folk  surely  are? 

Outside  of  being  potentially  ironical  in  the  idea  of 
the  prevalence  of  luck, there  is  also  a great  deal  of  irony  to 
be  found  in  Capus ' choice  of  characters.  In  doing  this  Caqpus 
has  shown  us  a rather  unflattering  picture  of  a small, but  dis- 
tinctive , group  of  people  that  exist  in  every  town  over  ten 
thousand.  They  are  those  unfortunate  people  without  wealth 
who  are  always  living  from  hand  to  mouth  with  a few  dollars 
that  they  ftave  earned  here  or  borrowed  there, always  hoping 
that  the  next  ship  in  will  be  their’ s.  They  are  always  just  at 
the  point  of  putting  the  finishing  touches  on  some  new  enter- 
prise that  v/ ill  net  them  thousands,  but  those  last  touches 
never  seem  to  reach  their  destination.  Capus  has  shown  us  all 

this  in  a most  cruelly  ironic  way  and  with  never  a detail  left 
out.  Be  has  no  very  good  opinion  of  such  people  and  that  phase 
of  life  that  they  represent,  and  has  held  them  up  before  our 
eyes  with  a slight, tight  smile  about  the  lipfe,  'he  do  not  see 


- 


15 


the  smile, but  it  is  there.  To  a msn  like  Capus,the  idea  of  a 
man  leading  such  a life  as  Brignol  led  is  not  so  much  a sub- 
ject for  pity  as  for  derision. He  is  derisive  accordingly, or  r 
rather  ironical,  as  he  holds  before  our  eyes  this  picture  of 
Parisian  life,  silently  and  unobtrusively.  He  does  this  in  the 
way  that  a mother  shows  a son,  smudged  and  ragged,  to  his 
father  .perhaps  without  expression, yet  subtly  disapproving. 

There  are  several  minor  points  of  irony  in  the  play. 

The  case  of  Brunet  is  a good  example.  A man  with  the  weakness 
that  Brunet  had  is  very  often  the  subject  of  laughter, and 
Capus  has  laughed  with  the  rest. But  his  laugh  has  ha.d  the  slight 
est  bit  of  an  edge,  for  he  does  not  draw  us  a picture  of  this 
self-conscious  old  debauche  in  what  would  be  called  soft  tones. 
The  idea  that  he  should  be  so  conscious  of  his  weakness  that 
he  trusts  his  money  in  the  hands  of  such  a person  as  Brignol 


in  order  to  prevent  his  losing  it, and  yet  is  not  strong  enough 
to  conquer  his  weakness, affords  much  ironic  mirth  to  Capus. 

Another  occasion  for  irony  has  been  found  by  Capus  in 
the  Valpierres  from  Poitiers. They  are  most  distinctly  not  of 
Paris  nor  of  its  beliefs.  Capus  himself  came  from  the  pro- 
vinces, but  in  due  time  came  to  be  one  who  thought  and  did  as 
the  Parisians  do  . He  finds  a great  deal  of  amusement  in  the 
crotchets  and  whims  of  these  ultra-respectable  people  to  whom 
nothing  but  the  orthodox  is  permitted.  Their  minds  are  as 
rigid  and  fixed  in  their  self-satisfied  atrophy  as  a piece  of 
petrified  wood  is  unre  claimable , and  they  are  as  narrow-minded 
and  bigot  ted  as  the  characters  in  a recent  American  popular 
novil.  Mme .Valpierre  is  shocked  to  think  that  Brignol  may 


. 


1 


. 

' 


? 

. 


, 

■ I • 


. 


16 


make  as  much  money  in  a day  or  two  as  her  husband  has  amassed 
by  thirty  years'  patient  labor, and  in  such  a low  financial 
way.  To  the  minds  of  both, the  life  that  Brignol  is  leading 
is  immoral  and  not  in  keeping  with  God's  law, and  they  are 
convinced  that  his  only  salvation  is  to  return  to  Poitiers 
and  try  to  live  on  the  starvation  wages  that  he  might  earn  as 
a lawyer. And  'they  fight  on  throughout  the  play  in  much  this 
saipe  fashion, always  opposing  their  narrow  ideas  of  the  pro- 
vinces to  those  of  the  man  of  the  city, Brignol . 

It  is  possible  that  there  is  a great  deal  of  irony  in 
Capus'  choice  of  situation.  In  Brignol  he  has  taken  a man  of 
the  type  that  he  is  to  treat  ironically  and  placed  him  in 
very  trying  circumstances , that  are  to  the  average  theatre-goer 
very  funny.  Just  at  the  time  when  Brignol  should  be  in  the 
greatest  of  prosperity  he  is  in  very  precarious  circumstances, 
in  danger  of  being  sued  and  sold  out, and  has  no  way  to  turn. 
His  case, no  matter  how  convincingly  he  may  talk, can  never  be 
very  strong  for  his  opinionated  relatives.  They  have  come 
to  say  "I  told  you  so", and  their  wish  is  granted, for  things 
could  hardly  be  in  a worse  state.  It  is  only  the  boundless 
optimism  of  Brignol  that  prevents  them  from  breaking  him. And 
the  very  fact  that  he  is  optimistic  with  his  affairs  in  the 
condition  that  they  are  is  a bit  ironical. Things  are  in  such 
an  irretrievable  mess  that  an  ordinary  man  would  despair  at 
the  thought  of  trying  to  straighten  them  out  in  the  manner 
that  Brignol  has  a mind  to  use  . The  only  seemingly  rational 

way  that  there  is  out  of  the  difficulties  is, as  his  brother- 
in-law  says, to  arrange  with  his  creditors  and  then  ge  to  work 


. 


- 


* 


, 


, 


. 


17 


and  pay  his  debts  as  he  can. But  Brignol  is  not  made  of  that 
kind  of  stuff.  Rather,  he  is  glad  that  he  owes  only  sixty- 
eight  thousand  francs, when  he  was  sure  that  he  owed  many  more 
than  that.  So  he  goes  on  in  his  foolishly  hopeful  way  with 
his  incessant Tout  s ’arranger a". 

In  the  next  play  that  comes  from  the  pen  of  Gapus  we 
have  something  of  the  same  idea  of  luck. In  this  particular 
play, however , there  is  a strong  element  of  fantasy,for  some  of 
the  things  that  happen  to  Rosine  can  come  only  under  b that  head. 
It  is  the  story  of  an  upright  young  woman  who  has  been  deceived 
by  a man  for  the  first  time  ,and  her  redemption.  Rosine,  a 
young  woman  of  the  provinces , has  been  proposed  to  by  a young 
gentleman  whom  we  do  not  see, and  he  has  been  accepted. His 
parents, however , very  nasty  and  small  minded  villagers , can  not 
see  the  '.ay  to  his  rnarraige  with  a young  woman  without  fortune. 
Love , however , surmounts  all  obstacles , and  they  have  lived  to- 
gether for  five  years, though  unmarried.  Then, by  means  of  a pre- 
text,the  young  man  is  lured  to  his  home  in  another  village 
where  he  is  compelled  to  marry  a wealthy, but  altogether  un- 
desirable young  woman.  His  sister, an  angular  specimen  of 
rusticity , comes  to  break  the  news  to  Rosine, and  does  so  in  a 
ver  crude  and  thoughtless  way.  She  even  has  the  effrontery  to 
offer  the  girl  money, and  in  the  end  leaves  her  the  possessor 
of  the  furniture  of  the  unfortunate  house  hold,  which/by  the  way 
s&e  reclaims  lat  er. Rosine  .undismayed  by  the  turn  of  events, 
starts  out  to  earn  her  own  living  and  is  aided  by  Page  let,  a 
lawyer,  and  Mme.  Sr  anger,  aumt  of  the  man  Rosine  is  to  marry. 
These  good  people  that  she  is  to  do  all  the  mending  and  sewing 


16 


for  the  village  wives.  They  are  of  course  told  why  it  is  that 
Rose  is  reduced  to  such  a mean  degree, and  are  very  solicitous. 
All  goes  well  for  some  time  and  Ho  sine  is  successful  in  ward- 
ing off  lovers  of  all  sorts. There  is  one  young  man, Georges 
Desclos.who  is  different  from  his  physically  minded  fellow- 

citizens,  and  who  pays  very  earnest  court  to  Rosine  vfaom  he 
loved  as  a child. He  is  very  poor .however, his  yearly  earnings 
being  in  the  neighborhood  of  eight  hundred  francs,  so  there  is 
no  immediate  prospect  of  his  being  accepted  by  the  heroine. 
While  all  this  is  going  on, there  in  another  aspirant  for 
her  body  in  the  person  of  one  Helion,  a manufacturer  of  the 
town,  who  has  just  been  abandoned  by  his  Paris  mis  tress.  All 
she  has  to  do, he  tells  Rosine, is  to  write  him  the  simple  word 
yes  , and  a luxurious  apartment  in  Paris  is  hers. One  day  his 
wife  surprises  him  as  he  is  making  various  advances  to  Rose, 
and  her  jealous  petty  mind, which  should  have  become  accustomed 
to  being  deceived  along  time  ago,  sets  to  work  with  the  result 
that  Rosine  is  soon  boycotted  by  all  the  good  women, and  there 
is  no  chance  of  gaining  a livelihood  any  longer  in  the  town. 
And  to  cap  the  climax  the  Butauds, through  the  agency  of  Lucy, 
a woman  whom  I suspect  of  having  complexes , sends  a demand  for 
the  furniture  that  they  so  magnanimous! y had  given  Rose.  Rose 
now  has  no  visible  means  of  support  end  not  much  of  a place 
left  to  live  in. She  is  on  the  point  of  writing  ^elion  the 
word  "Yes", when  Georges  happens  along  at  the  right  time, pro- 
poses, and  is  accepted.  They  are  to  ge  to  Paris  to  try  things 
anew, but  they  have  no  money,so  the  old  philosopher  gives  them 
the  few  louis  that  he  has  painstakingly  saved  for  improvements 


. 


« 


- 


, 


. I 


El  ^ 1 i 4 


. 


19 


on  his  farm. With  this  romanesque  note  the  play  ends, and  the 
audience  wipes  away  a few  tears  and  marvels  at  the  shill  of 
M. Capus. 

The  main  element  of  Capus1  idea  of  fate  comes  in  at 
the  end  of  the  play, as  we  have  seen, but  there  it  is  .Although 
we  do  3m±  have  the  boundless  optimism  of  the  two  lovers, we 
somehow  v/onder  if  Capus'  has  in  his  mind  as  happy  a fate  as 
rn^Lght  be  for  them.  The  lovers  are  united  in  a vary  romantic 
fashion  which  pleases  the  audience  and  reminds  the  critic 
of  Rostand, fchd  that  is  all  there  is  to  it. The  main  thing  in 
the  play  is, after  all, not  the  mating  of  another  pair  of 
humans, but  rather  a deft  study  of  provincial  manners,  and 
Rosine  and  Georges  are  the  framework  on  which  it  is  hung. 

The  play  may  be  called  a French  dramatic  "Biain 
Street".  Capus, himself  a hybrid  Parisian, takes  the  provinces 
£o  task  for  their  narrowness  in  matters  of  moral  and  ethical 
conduct.  The  men  of  the  play  are  all  from  the  stock  of  Kenni- 
cott,and  they  act  as  he  acted.  Their  life  is  so  petty  and  hide- 
bound that  they  snap  at  Rosine's  misfortune  as  a shark  snaps 
at  a fish, and  dwell  upon  it  as  something  outside  the  bounds  of 
normal  human  conduct.  When  they  first  hear  about  it  ,Mme .^elion 
is  prompted  to  remark: 

MM2.  HELION 

La  pauvre  fill  el  A-t-elle  des  enfants? 

MME . GRANGER 
Des  enfants  ? . . . .Non. 

MME.HBLION 
C’est  regrettable! 


I , 


. 


- 


- 


£0. 


D3SCL0S 

Pour quoi? 

MME.  HSL IOU 

Parce  que,au  cas  ou  elle  en  aurait  eu,notre  oeuvre, qui 
est  consacrd  a 1 ' enfance ,lui  aurait  donne  un  secours. 

MM3.  GRANGER 

3n  efi'et. 

PESCLOS  (a  mi-voix) 

Si  elle  avait  pu  prevoir (14) 

In  this  hit  of  dialogue  we  have  seveera}.  characters  outline! 
in  a very  few  words.  We  see  clearly  the  petty  self-suff iciency 
of  Mme.  Helion,thw  well-meaning  misunderstanding  of  Line. Gran- 
ger,and  the  ?diolesome,  jovial , go  od  nature  of  Desclos.  He  is 
the  armour  hearer  of  Capus  in  this  campaign  against  "main- 
streetism"  as  he  found  it  in  the  French  provinces. 

Desclos  is  one  of  the  masterpieces  of  character  draw- 
ing hy  Capus.  He  is  a philosopher , a jester, and  above  all  a 
man  with  a great  understanding.  He  is  a man  who  laughs  at  the 
world  in  order  not  to  cry  over  it,  and  he  laughs  v ry  suc- 
cessfully. He  is  old  as  we  see  him  in  the  play, and  death  is 
perhaps  not  far  off.  One  of  his  provincial  friends  rebukes 
him  for  talking  so  freely  of  death, and  he  replies : "fourquoi 
n’en  parlerais-je  pas  ? Rien  n'est  plus  naturel.  .Qu’est-ce 
que  la  mort?  Un  simple  for malite . . . " (15 ) bo  simple  minded 

villager  would  talk  about  so  grave  a thing  in  a like  manner. 

To  him  all  things  are  big  today  and  little  tomorrow.  In  last 

words  to  Georges , after  he  has  taken  the  news  of  the  approaching 
marriage  and  deparure  for  Paris  v/ith  the  utmost  calm, and  has 


. 


- 


El. 

even  helped  along  in  the  announcement , he  remarks  of  the  money 
that  he  has  given  the  couple  that  he  is  going  to  tell  his  sis- 
ter about  it, but  "Ohi  pas  tout  de  suite... Je  lui  apprendrai 
ca  a 1a.  longue,peu  a.  peu,  en  m*  amusant . . . J’ auztai  la  quelpues 
bonnes  soirees. . .AhJ  ahi  "(16)  £o  he  bids  them  the  best  of  luck 
and  promises  to  visit  them  the  next  year.  Here  we  have  a spar- 
tan father.  There  are  no  tears, no  protests  at  Georges1  leav- 
ing;there  is  no  parsimony , for  does  he  not  give  aLl  his  savings 
to  Georges  voluntarily?  There  is  only  the  utmost  broadminded- 
ness,entire  fairness, and  a kindliness  that  life  in  the  pro- 
vinces does  not  often  have. 

Then  the  supreme  example  of  the  provincial  is  found  in 
the  person  of  Lucy  Butaud.  She  is  narrow-minded, vindicative , 
stingy, has  strange  ideas  about  social  rank  for  one  of  the 
bourgeoisie , and  is  painfully  superstitious , all  of  which  are 

traits  of  the  common  person  of  the  provinces. 

Rosine  is  a somwehat  serious  play, and  for  that  reason 

the  irony  is  in  the  characters , rather  than  in  the  situations. 

One  critic  suns  it  up  as  follows: "a  deft  study  of  provincial 

manners,written  on  broad  lines.  In  this  sense  it  is  a true 
piece  of  v/ork , complete  and  w ell  thought  out.  It  presents  at  the 
same  time  a sedtion  of  humanity  and  an  author.. The  treatment 
of  that  section  of  humanity  gives  evidence  of  scrupulous  care, 
s desire  to  enter  into  the  field  of  actual  experience , and 
makes  us  feel  when  and  ho  w the  action  begins  , deve  lops , and  is 
carried  to  a logical  and  fitting  close.  "(17)  And  this  , all  in 
all, is  a just  criticism. 

In  La  Yeine  Capus  comes  out  openly  for  his  theory  that 


22  • 

luok  is  the  main  determinant  in  man’s  destiny,so  openly 
that  he  calls  the  play  "luck".  And  it  is  indded  luck  that  makes 
things  happen  as  they  do.  The  long  arm  of  coincidence  is  given 
a hard  stretch  in  this  play, which  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful that  Gapus  has  done .Charlotte  Lanier , proprietress  of  a 
flower  shop  that  she  has  come  to  after  having  started  in  very 
mean  circumstances.  Above  her  shop  there  lives  a lawyer  , Julien 
Breard, who  has  no  clients.  ue  induces  her  to  go  to  Havre  with 
him  for  a week-end, and  when  at  last  her  little  shop  has  perish- 
ed under  the  hands  of  its  multitudinous  credito  rs, the  y estab- 
lish themselves  in  his  apartmenifc  . He  still  has  no  clients, but 
one  day  there  comes  the  ex-employee  of  Charlotte, Josephine , who 
has  established  a liaison  with  a wealthy  young  man, with  the 
news  that  she  has  work  for  Breard.  It  seems  that  her  lover, 
Edmond  Tourneur , desires  to  sue  certain  newspapers  for  libel  of 
his  dead  father.  Breard  takes  charge, and  being  no  ignoramus, 
he  arranges  things  for  Tourneur  to  his  satisfaction  and  ends 
up  by  being  given  control  of  all  the  affairs  of  that  young  man, 
who  is  too  apathetic  to  manage  them  himself.  They  are  invited 
to  his  summer  home, and  there  Breard  meets  an  adventuress  with 

whom  he  falls  in  love , for getting  about  Charlotte ,who  has  been 
tutoring  to  make  herself  worthy  of  him.  Meantime  he  is  elected 

deputy  through  special  chance, and  the  associates  that  he  has 
made  in  his  connection  with  Tourneur.  His  new  flame, Simone 
Baudrin,is  an  old  experienced  hand, and  he  succeeds  only  in 
making  a fool  of  himself.  Since  has  risen  so  meteorically  and  to 
such  position, he  thinks  that  the  bourgeoise  little  proprietress 
of  the  flower  shop  that  was  is  not  good  enough  for  him.  He  soon 


23. 

sees  his  error, and  aftre  he  has  been  tried  by  Josephine  and 
found  true,  he  is  again  greeted  by  Charlotte , and  the  play  ends  as 
they  are  starting  for  the  town  from  which  he  was  elected  to  get 
married. 

Breard  is  something  of  the  type  of  Brignol,in  that  he  is 
not  inclined  to  wort  very  hard, but  he  has  not  the  stupendous 
imagination  of  our  dreaming  high-financier.  As  one  of  the  char- 
acters describes  him, he  is:"Avocat  sans  clients, paresseux  et 
ambitieux  a la  fois,  ego'iste  ;aucun  avenir,a  rnoins  d’une  chance 
extraordinaire  que  rien  ne  fait  pre voir ; couver t de  dettes. "(18 ) 

Save  that  the  speaker  shows  just  a trifle  of  malice, the  whole 
description  is  only  too  true.  But  the  chance  that  is  not  for- 
seen  does  come, and  it  comes  in  the  person  of  Josephine.  From 
then  on  one  chance  after  another  leads  on  up  a step  at  a time 
until  he  is  deputy  from  his  department  and  is  well  on  ke  way 
to  that  fame  that  merits  slanderous  gossip  in  the  newspapers. 

If  the  potential  irony  that  is  to  be  found  in  Capus  1 
philosophy  of  luck  be  applied  to  La  Veine  , we  find  that  we  have 
here  a great  piece  of  irony.  Y/e  find  a statement  of  the  luck 
theory  in  Breard' s speeeh:”Je  ne  suis  pas  superst  itieux. . . Je 
crois  tout  hornrae  un  peu  bien  doue , pas  trop  sot, pas  trop  timide, 
a dans  sa  vie  son  heur  de  veine, un  moment  quand  les  autre s 
homines  semblent  tafrvailler  pour  lui,ou  les  fruits  viennent  se 
mettre  a ported  de  sa  main  pour  qu’il  les  cueille.  Cette-heur-la, 
ma  petite  Chariot te , c ' es t triste  a dire,mais  ce  ndest  pas  ni  le 
travail, ni  la  patience  eui  nous  Is  donnent . " ( 19 ) 

In  the  character  of  Breard  there  has  been  placed  ndi 
little  irony, as  we  dee  disclosed  before  our  eyes. He  does  not 


. ^ 


- 


, 


■ 


24 


change  during  the  play, but  is  a static  char acter , for  at  the  end 
he  is  fundamentally  as  lazy  as  he  was  when  the  curtain  first  ros  i, 
and  he  has  shown  himself  coloss  ally  egotistical  in  his  affair 
with  Simone  Baudrin.  This  fixity  of  his  character  is  in  itself 
ironic  to  some  degree.  Capus  evidently  does  not  aoprove  of  a 
man  that  changing  event  ss  do  not  affect. 

And  the  progress  that  such  a man  as  Brear  d makes  in 
the  world  is  open  to  very  broad  irony.  In  speaking  of  this  or 
that  unfortunate  happening,we  say  that  it  was  "the  irony  of 
fate  ”,  meaning  thereby  that  fate  has  talcen  things  in  her  own 
hands  with  a caprice  that  is  contrary  to  all  expectations. 

That  is  a cruel  irony.  But  may  we  not  suppose  the  reverse  of 
this, that  when  things  look  very  dark  fate  again  takes  things  in 
hand  and  with  a happy  caorice  gives  something  that  is  very 
much  to  be  desired , instead  of  the  expected  awful  outcome?  That 
is  kindly  irony. 

This  kindly  iron  is  what  we  have  in  La  Veine , in  that 
everything  happens  as  it  should, although  it  does  not  seem 
possible.  One  happy  thing  after  another  happens  for  Breard,who 
is  a rather  charming  man, but  faulty.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
play  we  have  not  the  slightest  idea  that  he  will  ever  be  any- 


thing but  the  mediocre  lawyer  ta|ht  he  is, living  four  or  five  flo< 
up  in  a not  very  select  district  of  Paris.  But  the  happy  irony 
of  fate  and  the  dramatist  have  decreed  otherwise , and  he  is  in 
the  end  embarked  upon  a promising  political  career  in  an  office 
furnished  with  English  furniture.  It  is  this  same  gentle  irony 
that  keeps  him  out  of  t he  clutches  of  Simone  Baudrin  and 
brings  him  back  to  the  kindly  arms  of  Charlotte. 


rs 


. 


Chapter  IV. 
CAPUS  AND  DIVORCE . 


25. 


In  tojw  of  his  most  interesting  plays,  Gapus  has  dealt 
with  the  problem  of  divorce,  but  perhaps  with  no  very  great 
finality, nor  yet  with  any  desire  to  appear  iinal.  He  has  mere- 
ly looked  out  over  the  broad  vista  of  present  day  divorce  and 
formed  his  boulevard  opinions  about  the  matter. And  these  are, 
of  course, not  those  of  a man  with  any  very  great  illusions 
about  life.  He  has  made  his  own  little  system, and  in  it  he 
has  left  a place  for  what  our  modern  moralists  look  upon  as 
a grave  ganger.  Capus  finds  it  anything  but  a danger.  To  him 
it  is  rather  a subject  for  much  sardonic  amusement. 

In  the  first  play  in  which  he  attacks  the  problem,  there 
is  very  little  of  the  serious,  for  the  play  is  a flip , Par  isian 
comedy  about  a most  engaging  little  person  who  just  can’t  stay 
married, if  the  tenets  of  the  old  regime  are  to  be  he}.d  to. This 
play ,Les  Haris  de  Leontine ,1900, has  to  do  with  the  escapades 
of  a pert  young  lady  named  Leontine.  She  has,  it  would  seem, 
led  her  husband  a mep^  life,  and  he  has,  after  enduring  as  much 
as  his  staid  soul  would  allow, allowed  her  to  divorce  him.  She 
has  deceived  him  v/ith  all  the  simplicity  of  a child  playing 
with  dolls, has  been  extravagant , and  has  in  general  shattered 
most  of  the  illusions  that  the  poor  man  had  about  her.  And  she 
has  taken  the  divorce  as  a mere  matter  of  course.  As  Adolphe 
says,sfre  has  taken  it  "tres  gaiement , comme  elle  avait  pris  le 
mar&Age  ,et  sans  y attacher  plus  d 1 importance . Puis  elle  est 
entree  dans  la  galanterie  qui  etait  sa  veritable  vocat  ion.  " ( 20 ) 


26. 

And  she  has  been  most  impudently  getting  large  sumssof  money 
from  the  long-suffering  Adolphe  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances 
of  his  friends • Things  seem  to  go  from  had  to  worse  and  one  day 
she  wanders  into  Adolphe’s  apartment  with  the  naive  announce- 
ment that  she  has  no  money.and  will  ask  for  none, hut  that  she 
will  put  up  with  him  for  a few  days  until  something  turns  up. 

She  is  something  ef  a female  Micawber,is  Leontine.  She  has  been 
sold  out, and  declines  to  go  to  any  of  her  friends, for  she  has 
had  the  bright  idea  of  coming  to  Adolphe.  He  is  very  properly 
scandalized  and  tries  everything  that  he  can  think  of  to  dis- 
lodge her, but  stay  she  will.  After  she  has  disrupted  the  whole 
schame  of  his  life, and  has  taken  to  receiving  guests  of  rather 
shady  characters , Adolphe  goes  off  to  the  provinces  wit  h his 
friend  Plantin.  Then  there  enters  the  story  the  Baron  de  la 
Jambiere,as  the  unrequited  lover  of  leontine.  And  we  also  get 
a glimpse  of  the  savant  Anatole,o£  whom  we  are  to  see  more 
later.  And  after  a time  -“eontine  marries  the  Baroij.as  a matter 
of  course, as  though  she  were  trying  to  experience  as  many  hus- 
bands as  possible  before  too  late.  She  has  the  future  to  look 
out  for,  too,  and  it  is  not  so  bad,  one  would  imagine,  to  make  one’s 
living  by  being  a baroness.  But  her  volatile  nature  is  not  long 
contented  with  th  Bar  on, who  , i t must  be  admitted,  is_  rather 
stupid, and  she  busies  herself  with  Anatole,who  does  not  know 
quite  what  it  is  all  about, but  after  a time  becomes  anamoured 
of  her.  The  intrigue  is  discovered  by  the  amusing  old  royalist 
aunt  of  the  Baron,who  advises  him  as  to  his  wife’s  fidelity. 

He  is  hurt.  There  has  been  an  assignation  made, and  the  Baron 
and  his  aunt  plot  to  surprise  the  two  culprit s .They  do  so  , 


■ 


, 


27. 


finding  Leontine  in  a rather  distressing  state  of  neglige.and 
the  prefect  of  police  is  summoned  to  take  the  complaint. By  the 
irony  of  fate  and  the  dramatist , the  prefect  is  none  other  than 
Adolphe, who  has  been  appointed  to  the  office  through  his  friend 
Plantin.  He  sees  the  state  of  things  and  after  much  earnest  coun- 
sel , convinces  the  Baron  that  he  must  not  divorce  Leontine.  This 
suggestion  is  acted  on, and  in  due  time  Adolphe  and  the  Baron 
become  fast  friends.  And  leontine, as  gay  as  ever, turns  match- 
maker, and  ends  up  by  marrying  off  Adolphe  to  Hortense,the 
cousin  of  the  Baron, after  a thrilling  time  trying  to  keep  her 
past  connection  with  Adolphe  secret.  So  everything  ends  happily, 
and  we  hope  that  Leontine  has  at  last  found  the  true  fidelity. 

o here  we  have  Capus ' ironic  philosophy  about  divorce. 

Hi  protagonist  in  the  play  is, of  course, the  amusing  Adolphe, 
who  counsels  the  Baron  that  the  best  thing  that  he  can  do  is  to 
stay  married  to  leontine.  As  he  says  to  the  Baron; 

"Vous  ne  savez  done  pas  ce  que  e'est  un  divorce.  Vous  ne 
rendez  pas  compte  de  tous  les  tracas,de  toutes  les  conn- 
plications  qui  en  resultentl  Conferences  avec  les  avoues 
et  avec  les  avocat  s,olaido  iries  publiques , devant  tous 
vos  concitoyens  alleches  par  le  scan  dal e,ou  l1 avocat  de 
la  partie  adverse  parlera  avec  indignation  de  la  gross- 
ierete  de  vos  moeurs,d®  vos  habitudes .. .Si  vous  le  defiez 
( i . e .: 1 1 avocat ), il  en  dir a le  double.  II  se  montrera 
surpris  que  votre  femme  ait  attendu  si  longtemps  pour 
vous  trooper , il  insinuera  que  si  elle  n’etait  pas  un  ange 
de  vertu^, elle  aurait  deserts  le  domicile  conjugal  apres 
la  premiere  nuit  de  noces,il  inventera  sur  votre  vie 
privee  des  histoires  crous tillantls  qui  feront  la  joie  de 
toute^la  villevet  vous  serez  peut-etre  par-dessus  le 
marche , condamne'  a faire  time  forte  pension  a madame  la 

Baronne . " ( 21 ) 

And  Adolphe  goes  on  to  paint  a picture  of  the  possible 
future  of  a divorced  woman, that  she  may  have  no  money, no  family, 

and  no  one  to  whom  to  turn, and  she  will  probably  end  up  that 


" 


‘ I 


* 

' 

1 


28. 


most  odious  of  things,  in  the  eyes  of  the  moral  Adolphe, a 
"cocotte".  And  all  that  is  hardly, when  all  is  said  and  done, the 
true  philosophy  of  such  a man  as  we  are  led  to  believe  Adolphe 
to  be.  A man  of  the  seeming  moral  inclinations  that  Adolphe  seems 
to  be  would  hardly  balk  at  a few  personal  inconveniences ,wheh 
it  was  a question  getting  free  from  a lewd  w oman . It  is  rather 
the  free  and  easy  opinion  of  the  egoistic  bo  v.le  vardier,o£  a 
man  who  is  too  lethargic, or  too  disinterested  in  principle, to 
allow  himself  to  be  jarred  from  his  narrow  and  self-sufficient 
ways  of  life.  And  it  is  uite  possible  that  Capus  sincerely 
believed  the  dicta  of  Adolphe, at  least  wh en  he  was  writing  it. 

For  he  is  a cynic,and  to  such  a man  the  things  that  tradition 
holds  most  dear  are  not  v/orth  a far  thing, when  there  is  the 
possibility  of  a greater  unhappiness.  There  is  less  of  the  theor- 
etic in  this  play  than  in  Les  Deux  Scoles , a later  play  with  a 
similar  subject.  Reasons  here  are  very  material, the  reasons  of 
an  epicurean, or  perhaps  of  a hedonist.  It  is  a matter  of  choos- 
the  lesser  of  two  evils, which  in  this  case  happens  to  be  infidel- 
ity, as  opposed  to  the  inconvenience  of  a public  divorce  scan- 
dal. In  other  words, we  have  here  the  philosophy  of  a self-indul- 
gent man  who  sees  nothing  in  life  but  what  little  ease  one  can 
extract  from  it. 

In  the  next  play  of  the  same  subject  , Les  Deux  Scoles , 
1902, we  have  a Little  different  treatment  of  divorce , although 
it  is  still  seen  through  the  eyes  of  the  cynical  boulevar  dier  . 

In  this  play, however , we  have  a little  more  explicit  directions 
given  for  the  avoidance  of  divorce.  The  play  has  to  do  with  the 


29 


separation  of  Henriette  from  her  husband (who  is  fundamentally 
a good  enough  husband ), because  he  is  given  to  having  ’’bonnes 
amies".  This  goes  against  the  inclinations  of  Henri ett  e ,who  is 
something  of  the  same  type  of  woman  as  Leontine , except  that 
her  inspirations  are  always  in  a moral  dire ction, an d that  she 
has  a very  definite  moral  standard  which  she  holds  to  with  a 
great  deal  of  vehemence.  As  a result  she  holds  to  her  deter- 
mination to  divorce  Edouard, in  spite  of  the  advice  of  both 
her  mother  and  father. So  they  are  divided  by  law, and  Edouard 

proceeds  to  amuse  himself  with  the  mistress  that  he  has  picked 
out, even  before  the  proseedinga  had  been  started, much  to  the 

consternation  of  his  father  -in-1  aw,  who  is  something  of  a gay 
dog  himself.  Henriette  takes  up  with  the  politician  le  Hautois, 
a staid, serious  old  fellow, who  is  the  personification  itself — 
so  Henriette  thinks.  Things  go  on, and  by  various  ways , ^douar d 
falls  in  love  with  his  ex-wife, and  frequents  her  father's  house 
,a  great  deal.  When  he  proposes, and  it  is  brought  out  that  the 
main  reason  that  he  deceived  Henriette  was  that  he  did  not  wish 
to  appear  stupid, she  sends  him  packing  in  very  short  order.  The 
date  for  her  wedding  with  le  Hautois  is  set, and  all  the  prep- 
arations for  the  establishment  of  a new  household  are  under 
way.  Then, one  day, she  finds  Estelle, the  former  mistress  of  Ed- 
ouard who  is  out  for  bigger  game , in  the  arms  of  her  hitherto 
impeccable  le  Hautois, and  is  thoroughly  disillusioned.  She 
decides  that  women  were  made  to  be  deceived, and  thinking  that 
she  would  rather  be  deceived  by  Edouard  than  by  le  Hautois, she 
accepts  him  and  announces  that  she  does  not  wish  to  know  any- 
thing  about  his  future  ’’bonnes  amies”, although  she  is  convinced 


* 


30 


that  they  will  come. 

In  this  play  there  is  not  the  same  airy , semi-farcical 

treatment  of  the  subject  that  we  have  in  naa.  r,Jfr-.i.s  M. 
although  there  is  a tone  of  sohisticat ion  and  cynicism  through- 
out the  play  that  removes  it  from  the  more  serious  attempts 
of  Capus.  The  whole  thing  is  artificial , for  that  natter, but 
the  dramatist  has  painted  so  skillful  veil  over  it  that  it  is 
not  readily  obvious. 

The  conception  of  the  dramatist  that  all  husbands  can 

be  arbitrarily  into  two  schools, as  he  puts  it  into  the  mouth 

of  Mme.  Joulin,is  not  true.  Says  she: 

"Un  mari  exact  a l'heure  des  repas  et  exact  a l'heure  du 
bergari  Eh  bien,ma  fille,ce  n'est  pas  possible  1 II  y^  a 
d'un  cote  la  vie  fantaisiste  et  de  1' autre  la  vie  reelle. 

II  faut  choisir;on  ne  peut  pas  mener  les  deux  successive  - 
ment  douze  heures  par  jour.  ParbleuJ  je  crois  bien  oue 
ce  serait  le  revel  Mais  la  nature  n'a  pas  voulu  cue  nous 
fissions  ce  reve-lal  Laquelle  de  ces  deux  existences  vaut 
le  mieux?  9a»Par  example , je  n'en  sais  rien.  St  comme  dit 
ton  pere  quand  il  joue  au  piquet,il  y a deux  e coles. " ( 23 ) 

To  her  mind  there  can  be  only  two  kinds  of  husbands:  those  who 

are  amusing  and  deceive  you, and  those  who  are  dull  and  do  not 
deceive  you. That  is  just  a little  short-sighted, for  might  not 

a husband  be  dull  and  deceive  you, as  well  as  a husband  might  be 
amusing  and  not  deceive  you.  ^any  women  profess  to  have  found 
this  latter  sort.  The  way  that  she  makes  life  at  all  interest- 
ing with  a Don  Juan  for  a husband  is  to  ignore  his  doings.  She 
says : 

"La  femme, la  vraie  ferane, telle  du  moins  que  je  la  comprends, 
ne  doit  jamais  chercher  a savoir  si  elle  est  trompee  • Nous 
soranes  trop  superieures  en  general  a nos  mari s, pour  nous 
preoccuper  de  ces  details.  Et  les  honreeo  ne  meritent  meme 
pas  que  nous  attachions  tant  d ’ importance  a leurs  fautes. 
Qu'ils  nous  trompent,si  9a  leur  fait  plaisirl  Quant  a nous, 
nous  devons  rester  non  seuloment  dans  la  doute,mais  dans  une 
dedaigneuse  ignor ance . . . " (84) 


31 


This  is  the  idea  of  no  ordinary  woman, as  one  can  easily  see. 

It  is  rather  that  of  the  ideal  woman  of  the  boule  var  die  r ,the 

womans  1 he  thinks  possibly  he  might  marry, if  there  were  any 
such, and  then  leans  back  with  the  contented  knowledge  that  there 
are  none  of  that  species  exteant.  For  such  a man  is  one  who  has 
no  desire  to  have  his  pleasure  curtailed  by  need  of  endless  ex- 
planation as  to  the  way  in  which  he  has  achieved  it.  And  £ack 
of  all  this  there  is  the  accompanying  irony  th&t  there  is  not, 
for  that  reason  of  non-exist ence , and  can  not  be  any  very  happy 
solution  of  the  problem  under  present  eondit ions , customs , and 
beliefs.. And  the  dramatist  can  see  no  reason  why  there  should 
be  any  need  of  a solution, why  there  should  be  all  this  hulla- 
baloo over  something  that  is  very  convenient  and  useful. For 
somehow  one  feels  that,  as  he  reads  the  pages  og  this  play,  there 
is  a sardonic  grin  on  the  face  of  Capus  as  he  puts  his  puppets 
through  their  paces. 

We  have  a slight  recurrence  Id  the  idea  of  luck  and  fate 

in  this  play  in  the  words  of  Estelle, the  "bonne  amie"  of  Edouard: 

"Je  suis  de venue  ....  Comment  appelle-t-on  ca..Ah  oui, fatal - 
iste.  II m1 arrive r a ce  qu'il  voudra  mai ntenant ;tout^  ^a  , qa 
m'est  egal«  St  vous  comprenez  que  je  ne  me  fais  guere 
d’illusions.n'est-ce  pas?  II  va  m'en  arriver  de s aventures, 
et  des  droles. . . ." ( 22) 

This  is  the  same  thought  that  we  have  expressed  by  Julien  Brea&d 
in  ^eifle.with  a slightly  different  application, perhaps  in 
this  case, but  still  fundamentally  germany  to  that  same  idea. 

Les  Deux  Scoles, which  came  the  year  after  La  ^eine , is  in  a diff- 
erent manner, but  Capus  has  not  yet  got  entirely  away  from  the 
fancies  of  the  earlier  plays, for  ideas  do  not  change  as  readily 


as  habits. 


* 


' 


* 




32. 

In  these  two  plays, -^es  L aris  de  Leontine  and  Les  Deux 
Bcoles, Capus  has  made, for  the  ironist, a most  scathing  denun- 
ciation of  one  of  the  most  striking  phenomena  of  Paris, or  as 
it  now  is, of  most  any  large  city , regardless  of  country.  The 
marrying  wo  man,  whom  divorce  has  fostered,  and  divorce  it  self,  do 
not  get  a very  gentle  treatment  in  the  hands  of  this  dramatic 
gargoyle  of  the  Boul ' Mich1.  He  finds  things  deplorable, hut  not 
for  the  orthodox  and  rational  reason.  He  finds  that  divorce, in 
spite  of  the  layman  to  the  oontrary,is  not  nearly  as  necessary 
as  it  is  made  out  to  be, that  it  is  deucedly  inconvenie nt , and  that 
as  a cure  it  is  worse  than  the  ill.  To  bring  this  new  idea  to 
perfection, he  goes  on  to  say  in  the  second  play  that  the  best 
way  to  avoid  the  whole  thing  is  to,  practice  self-delusion, for 
what  we  do  not  know  will  not  hurt  us, and  that  if  married  folk 
mus  sin  let  them  keep  it  to  themselves  and  not  bother  their 
partners  with  confession.  Here  we  have  the  crovming  irony  of  the 
whole  problem.  The  dramatist  has  shown  us  that  happiness  can 
come  only  through  self-delusion, bu  the  supression  of  fact, and 
through  the  glossing  over  of  truth, and  that, I believe, is  mon- 
struousfy  ironical.  For  we  have  the  same  idea  expressed  by  the 
cynical  Helling  in  Ibsen's  "Wild  Duck", when  toward  the  last  of 
the  play  he  says:  "Rob  the  average  man  of  his  life -illusion, and 
you  rob  him  of  his  happiness  at  the  same  stroke.  "(25)  And  the 
truth,  such  as  it  is, of  his  statement  is  borne  out  by  the  Rkdals , 
who  are  happy  through  self-delusion, and  who  are  thrown  into  a 
turmoil  and  great  unhappiness  by  lie  coming  of  the  mistaken 
idealist, Gregprs  1 erle  . And  there  the  matter  stands. 


* 


. 


23. 

Chapter  V. 

CAPU3  AND  OH  E NEW  WOMAN  . 

With  in  the  last  two  decades  or  so  , woman  has  stepped 
forth  as  something  more  than  a fireside  companion.  She  is  no 
longer  content  to  sew, and  bake, and  brew, but  has  through  various 
agents  come  to  desire  the  liberty  enjoyed  by  men.  This  is  not  a nejf? 
or  startling  fact, for  at  present  most  of  the  world  is  cognizant 
of  it, and  probably  three-fourths  of  this  same  world  are  busy 
deploring  the  state  of  things.  But  the  movement  , perhaps  first 
supported  first  by  Ibsen  in  his  "Doll's  House",  anci  today  we 
have  votes,  for  women, women  legislators , financier s , and  whatnot . 

That  the  movement  is  still  crescent  is  beside  the  point. Woman 
started  out  on  her  own, and  is  still  intent  ®on  the  goal, such 
as  it  is, and  today  we  even  read  of  a woman  who  took  unto  her- 
self a wife. 

Twenty  years  or  so  ago,Capus  touched  somewhat  on  this 
social  phenomenon  in  one  of  his  first  plays, La  Petite  Fonctionnair 


1900. He  did  something  that  had  newr  been  done  before; he  treated 
the  economically  independent  woman.  In  this  he  anticipated  Brieux, 
who  did  the  same  thing  more  seriously  some  elevn  years  later. 
Suzanne  Borel,a  comely  youngwoman, giving  been  deprived  of  her 
parents  and  fortune, has  entered  the  postal  service, and  eventually 
been  stationed  as  postmistress  at  fre s si gny-sur -Loire.  She 
proves  to  be  an  excellent  public  servant  ,al  though  she  makes  some 
changes  th&t  are  not  appreciated  by  the  villagers.  They  resent 
two  mail  deliveries  in  the  same  day, since  that  gives  them  their 
evening  papers  in  the  evening, a thing  that  is  quite  displeasing. 


, 


34 


for  they  are  accustomed  to  waiting  until  the  next  morning  to 
read  their  news.  And  the  fact  that  Suzanne , and  does  sketches 
on  Sunday  causes  no  little  talk  about  the  town.  This  does  not 
bother  her  particularly, for  she  has  many  of  the  ways  of  the  city, 
and  is  content  with  the  knowledge  that  she  is  doing  he  duty 
faithfully.  She  makes  a decided  impression  on  the  men  of  the  town 
especially  Pagenel  who  has  been  married  so  long  that  he  is 
getting  tired  of  being  faithful  to  his  wife.  He  become  enamoured 
of  the  young  lady, and  on  the  advice  of  his  gay  friend  Bebardin 
endeavors  to  establish  her  in  Paris  as  his  mistress.  She  has 
always  been  virtuous  and  can  see  no  reason  for  changing  her 
ways.  Meant ime , however , she  has  me t the  Vieomte  de  Samblin,but 
contrary  to  the  statements  of  her  gamine  helper  Riri,she  does 
not  fall  in  love  with  him, for  he  is  an  ill -educated  and  not 
particularly  graceful  member  of  the  pampered  nobility.  At  least 
that  is  what  she  thinks.  But  the  day  that  the  invitation  for 
his  marriage  of  convenience  with  Hermanoe  Liseuil  come, and  he 
gives  her  one, there  comes  the  very  sudden  realization  to  her 
that  she  does  love  him, and  she  tells  him  as  much  in  a restrained 
but  haughty  manner.  The  marriage  is  not  broken  for  this  new- 
found love  for  the  next  that  we  see  of  Suzanne  is  when  we  dis- 
cover her  in  the  apartment  that  Pagenel  has  furnished  for  her 
in  Paris, as  he  had  promised.  She  has  found  that  it  was  rather 
unliveable  in  Pressigny  after  the  ajrnrriage  of  the  man  that  she 
loved  with  another  woman, who,  to  make  things  worse,  is  an  old 
friend  of  hers.  She  has  allowed  the  suggested  arrangement , but 
has  not  done  everything  that  the  old  philandere £ has  expected. 

She  merely  allows  him  to  touch  the  ends  of  her  fingers.  He  and 


35. 


Lebardin  have  come  t©  Paris  "bunburying"  and  are  having  tea  with 
Suzanne,  T'here  has  been  some  ridiculous  pretext  or  other  for 
the  trip, but  things  seem  to  have  gone  wrong, for  the  uncle  that 
Pagenel  was  supposed  to  visit  arrives  in  Press  igny  to  visit 
him  while  he  is  away.  Thereupon  that  wot thy  man’s  w ife  smells 
a rat,  and  she  sets  out  for  Paris  in  company  with  Mme.  Pagenel. 

They  arrive  at  the  apartment  while  Suzanne  is  treating  the 
rheumatism  that  Pagenel  has  acquired  while  routing  about, and  thin; 
are  made  rather  awkward  for  the  deceivers.  Just  before  this, 
Pagenel  and  his  "bonne  amie"  have  met  the  Vicomte,who  is  in 
Paris  alone, for  as  we  learn  later  his  marriage  has  been  any- 
thing but  successful.  His  wife , immediately  after  the  marriage, 
has  taken  up  with  the  man  whom  she  has  loved  all  the  time.  This 
is  too  much  for  the  Vi comte  and  he  has  come  to  Paris  to  forget 
his  troubles.  ue  comes  to  call  on  Suzanne , after  the  smoke  has 
partly  cleared  away,  and  the  culprits  have  been  more  or  less  clear  - 
ed  of  their  suspected  misdeeds,  Phey  are  to  be  taken  home,  cured 
of  all  desire  for  sin.  Suzanne  finds  that  she  still  loves  the 
Vicomte.and  he  finds  that  he  loves  her  more  than  he  had  thought. 
The  thrifty  lebardin  sees  his  chance  to  clear  the  matter  up 
financially,  sells  the  furnishings  and  goodwill  of  the  apart- 
ment to  the  Vicomte,and  comes  back  to  interrupt  Suzanne's  fianl 
surrender  with  the  key, as  the  cut&ain  falls. 

The  realism  of  the  play  is  not  particularly  questionable, 
although  it  is  that  peculiar  sort  of  realism  that  belongs  to 
Capus, characterised  as  Bselective'.  ue  started  out  with  the  idea 
of  a postmistress  in  a small  provincial  town, but  to  do  what  he 
wanted  to  with  her  he  had  to  look  around  for  other  particular 


* 

. 


36. 

characters.  She  had  been  a virtuous  young  woman  as  he  had  con- 
ceived her, mainly  because  she  was  an  independent  woman  and  he 
had  to  have  a foil  for  her. He  found  them  in  the  persons  of 
nebardin  and  Pagenel,so  they  have  to  be  in  the  play.  Naturally 
the  men  have  to  have  wives, and  as  they  were  provincial  folk, 
these  wives  were  made  militant  in  their  ideas  as  to  domestic 
fidelity.  And  then  there  had  to  be  someone  for  Suzanne  to  fall 
in  love  with, both  an  ordinary  and  an  extraor dinary  young  man, 
so  the  Vieomte  was  created  for  the  part.  This  gave  him  his 
main  character s,  and  the  minor  ones  were  as  they  had  to  be  under 
the  circumstances.  It  is  highly  doubtful , though, if  one  ordinary 
village  would  hold  the  various  types,  few  as  they  are,  that  we 
have  used  in  this  play. And  the  circumstances  and  situations 
that  they  find  themselves  in  are  created, although  they  have 
been  given  the  gloss  of  reality.  Actually , Suzanne  would 
probably  ha  ve  led  a very  ordinary  and  hum-drum  existence  in 
Pressigny^  Instead  we  have  very  interesting  characters  in 
amusing  situations , so  "the  play’s  the  thing." 

There  are  two  important  sources  of  irony  in  the  play. 

The  first,  of  course,  is  the  treatment  of  the  woman  with  a career. 
Capus  in  his  position  of  boulevardier  and  cynic  gives  us  no 
little  delicate  irony  in  his  handling  of  Suzanne,  He  has  first 
of  all  been  ironic  in  the  very  choice  of  his  subject. His  view 
of  woman, in  his  quality  of  Parisian  celibate, is  hardly  that 
of  the  normal  or,  ordinary  man.  To  his  mind  a woman  is  something 
£o  amuse  oneself  with, and  to  buy  trinkets  for.  -‘-'he  thought  of  a 
woman  taking  life  seriously  enou^i  to  go  out  and  work  for  an 
honest  living  probably  caused  him  to  smile  wryly.  And  it  gave 


37. 


him  the  idea  of  writing  a play  about  her. His  treatment  of  the  se] 
supporting  woman  is  anything  but  the  serious  and  defensive 
treatment  of  Ibsen, and  of  the  later  Frenchmen.  But  he  does  attacl 
the  problem. and  might  be  said  to  speak  more  than  he  thinks,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  has  no  interest  in  social  problems 
as  such.  While  he  shows  many  of  the  bad.  angles  in  the  life 
of  the  independent  woman, they  are  not  as  important  as  he  makes 
them,  so  that  in  the  end  we  haare  a fair  brief  for  the  new 
woman. 


f- 


There  is  a bolder  irony, though  in  the  dramatists  treat- 
ment of  the  provincial  town  and  its  inhabitants.  His  work  here 
is  not  quite  as  emphatic  as  it  was  in  Ho sine , but  it  is  any- 
thing but  a weak  attack. .He  has  taken  more  specialized  items 
in  the  petty  prejudices  and  crotchets  of  a small  town  and  held 
them  up  disapprovingly.  For  instance,the  incident  of  Suzanne's 
piano  and  her  sketching, is  a case  in  point.  And  the  dislike  of 
the  townspeople  at  getting  their  newspapers  in  the  evaning, 
is  yet  another.  There  are  other  cases  of  the  same  sort, and  the 
whole  things  goes  to  make  up  the  irony  of  the  dwellers  of  a 
French  mainstreet . The  stupidity  of  the  men  of  the  town  is  shown 
in  the  almost  pathetic  efforts  of  Pagenel  and  -^ebardin  to  find 
amusement  , and  their  having  to  go  to  Paris  as  a last  resort. As 
before  said,  the  arraignment  is  not  as  complete  as  in  Ho  si  ne , 
but  it  is  more  obvious  than  the  irony  of  the  new  v/oman. 

There  is  some  thing  more  or  less  predominant  in  this  play 
that  has  not  beenmmet  in  any  of  the  others. That  is  sentimentality ,, 
Chandler  accuses  Capua  of  being  a sentiment alist , somewhat  in 
the  manner  of  Schnitzler . ( 26 ) The  sentimentality  in  this  play 


58 


hinges  on  the  virtue  of  Suzanne, and  of  her  and  the  dramatist’s 
trial  by  fire, so  that  she  may  come  out  at  the  end  as  immaeualte 
as  she  entered.  The  fact  that  she  so  nobly,  left  Pressigny 
when  she  saw  that  the  man  she  loved  was  irretrievably  married, 
and  the  brave  way  in  which  she  bore  up  under  the  strain  of  un- 
requited love  are  other  phases  of  this  same  sentimentality . 

The  ending  o£  the  play  reminds  me  of  the  only  novel  by  Robert 
W. Chambers  I have  ever  read, where  the  heroine  gave  the  keys  to 
her  bedroom  to  her  husband  after  many  months.  But  the  tone  of 

the  play  as  a whole  is  not  so  bad  as  that. 

Again  in  this  work  there  is  something  predominant 

idea  of  La  Veine  shows  up  again.  And  that  is  the  philosophy  of 
luck  or  chance.  One  example  will  suffice.  Riri  is  telling  Su- 
zanne that  she  is  not  the  mistress  of  her  emotions.  Suzanne 
has  just  said  that  she  will  fall  in  love  with  whom  she  likes 
when  she  decided  to.  To  which  Riri  replies: 

"Vous  me  faites  rire.vous  aussi,avec  vos  idees.  Hst-ce 
que  vous  le  savez  de  qui  vous  serez  amour euse.iJon,ma  chere, 
vous  ne  le  savez  pas.  Ce  sera  peut-etre  d’un  paysan.comme 
peut-etre  dans  dix  ans^mais  ouil  Vous  etes  ©ommes  les 
camarades.  On  ne  vous  enverra  une^epeche  la  veille  pour 
vous  prevenir.  St  un  beau  matin, en  vous  reveillant , vous  vous 
apercevrez  que  vous  etes  amoureuse.  Ca  vous  sera  venu 
pendant  la  nuit."(27) 

Here  is  the  old  fatalistic  idea  that  one  does  not  command  his 
own  fate, but  that  he  is  to  receive  whatever  his  lot  may  be. And 
this  statement  is  borne  out  by  S uxanne’s  sudden  perception  for 
her  love  of  the  Vicomte. 

Another  play  of  somewhat  the  same  type  as  La  Petite 
yonctionnaire  is  Les  Favorites , 1911.  In  this  we  have  a different 
phase  of  the  new  woman, in  that  in  the  play  we  have  three  am- 


- • 


39. 

bitious  women, one  of  whom  wants  to  make  her  name  on  the  stage 
as  ouickly  as  possible , another  wishes  to  make  her  way  into 
high  society, and  another  wishes  to  further  the  interests  of 
her  lover, a journalist. Godfish, an  English  Jew,3ranchin,  and 
yillerbois  have  been  given  the  idea  of  establishing  a new  news- 
paper in  Paris  by  either  their  wives  or  their  mistresses,  They 
finally  agree  among  themselves  that  it  is  the  only  way  to  keep 
peace, and  act  accordingly.  They  enlist  Bourdolle , minister  of 
education, as  editor-in-chief , after  he  has  had  trouble  in  his 
department , and  things  seem  to  be  getting  along  very  nicely. Then 
Bourdolle  falls  in  love  with  a young  woman  on  his  staff, his 
wife  finds  it  out, and  they  separate.  He  pursues  his  affair 
with  Luce, the  woman  in  the  case, and  it  is  only  through  the  effort 
of  the  kindly  old  uomtesse  that  the  husband  and  wife  are  recon- 
ciled, and  the  reconciliation  is  indirect  at  that.  For  lime. 
Bourdolle  has, in  one  way  and  another , gained  the  promise  of 
the  office  of  prime  minister  of  France  for  her  erring  husband. 

The  news  of  this  comes  and  there  is  need  of  a new  editor  of 
Ciel  et  Terre.  Godfish  comes  with  the  suggestion  that  they 
make  Lahure  his  successor , for  he  is  indded  a very  brilliant 
historian, although  he  has  a constant  need  of  money  beacause  of 
his  ridiculous  affair  with  Bianca, who  has  scared  him  into  sub- 
mission.. So  the  play  ends  happily , although  ironically. 

This  play, not  the  best  of  those  of  Gapus  was  a great 
success  when  given  in  Paris  in  .December ,1911.  The  town  liked 
it  because  it  did  not  see  through  it.. 

As  a matter  of  fact  it  is  a very  definite  dig  at  the 
Parisian  public.  The  idea  that  women  of  the  type  that  we  find 


represented  in  this  play  could  get  as  far  as  they  did  was 
very  definite  irony  in  the  hands  of  Capus.  They  were  all 
ambitious , and  strange  to  say, their  ambitions  were  all  granted 
by  the  ironic  will  of  the  dramatist.  Mme.  Villsrbois  did 
gain  a certain  entrance  into  society, and  Codfish  did  please 
his  mis  tress,  and  iiahure  came  out  decidedly  higher  than  when  he 
went  in, but  it  was  11  due  to  the  caprice  of  the  playwright. 

The  idae  that  people  can  lead  a life  such  as  the  people  we  meet 
in  this  play, and'  like  it, is  somehow  impossible  to  conceive  in 
the  mind  of  the  dramatist.  So  he  has  shown  it  in  its  true 
colors  with  all  its  petty  deceits, its  cruelty, its  shallowness, 
its  unscrupulousness , its  blindness , but  above  all  its  humours. 
The  man  Lahure  is  a truly  drawn  character , but  his  inability, 
his  lethargy  ,and  his  awkwardness  in  his  affaires  de  coeur , in 
spite  of  his  being  a Parisian, and  his  chrdmic  impecuniosity 
make  him  a human  and  syraapthetic  person. 

That  may  be  called  irony, and  perhaps  that  is  what  it 
is, but  when  one  really  wants  to  he  can  read  irony  into  every- 
thing that  uapus  ever  wrote,. just  as  the  lbsenists  have  founS 
about  ninety  per  cent  more  symbolism  in  Ibsen  than  he  ever  put 


there . 


k 


• 

, 

, 

. 


41. 


Chapter  VI. 

CAPTJS  AND  HIGH  FINANCE. 

In  every  society, no  matter  of  what  country, tnere  has 
developed  a type  of  family  that  is  sociologically  and  econom- 
ically out  of  place,  fhey  are  very  often  the  third  generation 
of  an  individual  who  orignally  brought  the  stock  to  financial 
safety,  fhe  second  generation  gained , perhaps , social  standing 
at  the  expense  of  the  family  fortune , thereby  leaving  the  third 
generation  with  position  but  without  the  means  of  properly 
keeping  it  up.  lo  they  drift  on, trying  to  keep  up  appearances 
with  the  funds  that  would  keep  an  honest  bourgeois  family  more 
than  comfortable.  And  with  this  impecuniosity  there  comes  a 
certain  unscrulousness  that  leads  the  individuals  to  all  sorgft 
of  petty  tricks  and  efforts  to  better  their  condition, much  to 
the  dismay  and  disgust  of  their  associates.  Capus,in  spite  of 
his  possible  social  anarchy.has  a sense  of  tradxtional  decorum 
that  makes  him  look  dubiously  on  such  doings,  we  have  an  idea 
that  he  thinks  that  everyone.no  matter  what  his  position  may 
be, should  live  within  his  income. 

Accord ingly, in  La  bourse  on  la  vie, 1900, he  has 
shown  us  a family  in  the  condition  sketched  above. Jacques  iier- 
baut.an  easy-going  engineer, has  been  content  to  live  on  his 
small  income. but  thanks  to  an  extravagant  wife  he  soon  runs 
through  both  income  and  rrinciple.  *he  news  comes  from  his  sol- 
icitor,when  he  is  expecting  it  least, that  he  is  bankrupt, or  as 
he  puts  it  ,”decave'r.  I’he  only  thing  that  remains  is  a small 
property  in  Limoges.  ±ie  takes  the  energetic  resolution  that  he 


42. 

and  his  wife  are  going  there  to  live, and  try  to  recoup.  .But 
Helene, his  wife, finds  this  entirely  out  of  the  question.  They 
are  not  the  only  ones  in  Paris  in  that  fix, so  that  is  no  reason 
for  leaving  the  world  of  pleasure  and  gaiety  for  the  provinces. 

So  they  stay, since  Jacques  is  anything  hut  energetic,  things  go 
on, but  become  anything  but  better . Jacques  is  at  last  reduced  to 
the  levei  where  he  borrows  money  from  a groom.  Meantime  we  have 
learned  of  the  love  of  le  aoussel  for  Helene , something  rather 
surprising  to  his  friends  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he  is  more 
given  to  cocottes  than  he  is  to  society  women.  After  practic- 
ally an  act  finding  out  the  condition  of  the  Herbauts , relief  is 
brought  in  the  person  of  Pervenche,an  old  acquaintance  of  Helene 
She  is  the  mistress  of  one  Brassac,a  parvenu  little  esteemed  by 
the  crowd  that  the  Herbauts  belong  to.  But  when  Helene  sees  in 
him  a possible  solution  of  their  dilemma, she  becomes  very  cor- 
dial with  pervenche,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  is  little 
more  than  an  ordinary  woman  of  the  streets. 

In  the  next  act  we  find  that  she  has  managed  to  get 
Jacques  an  offer  of  partnership  with  Brassac.in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  Jacques  does  not  w^ant  and  has  no  money  to  put  in  the 
firm,  'i'his  is  beajcuse  the  parvenu  Brassac  has  aspirations  to 
break  into  society, as  we  say  in  this  country, and  in  Jacques  he 
sees  the  lever  that  he  needs.  Jacques  wan  introduce  him  to  many 
influential  men  and  get  him  into  the  club  that  he  wants.  Bo  the 
papers  are  signed,after  nrassac  has  got  the  poor  man  drunk, and 
things  seem  to  be  coming  along  better  than  was  expected.  Brassac, 
by  means  of  his  good  nature  has  persuaded  all  his  cocoties  and 
their  latest  loves  to  leave  their  money  with  him  to  play  the 


. 

, 

, 


t. 


« 

: 


. 


♦ 


. 


, 


, 


43 


stock  market  with  and  is  very  successful,  iierhaut  has  also 
profitted  by  the  association  and  has  become  very  good  friends 
with  the  jovial  speculator.  This  last  gentleman  has  a large 
operation  under  way  in  England  and  it  looks  as  though  he  is  due 
to  make  a formidable  amount  of  money.  And  he  has  progressed  in 
society.  He  has  fallen  in  love  with  a Louth  American  countess, 
who  is  incidentally  very  wealthy.  Then  the  crash  comes, and  he  is 
ruined.  The  only  thing  for  him  to  do  is  to  fly  the  country  for 
the  partnership  contract  makes  Jacques  responsible  for  all 
debts.  He  acts  accordingly,and  Jacques  ends  up  in  a debtors1 
prison  very  much  against  his  will.  Things  look  very  dark, and 
the  irrepressible  Helene  goes  to  le  Houssel  for  a loan  to  get 
Jacques  out  of  jail.  He  is  very  willing  to  oblige, but  endeavors 
to  make  certain  little  arrangements  that  Helene  cleverly  avoids. 
She  gets  the  money  and  takes  it  to  Jacques  and  tells  him  with 
charming  naivete  about  le  Houssel.  He  immediately  sends  the 
check  back.  Things  are  as  thick  as  ever, when  the  astonishing 
i$i*assac  walks  into  the  prison.  He  had  fled  the  country  right 
enough, but  being  very  far  gone  over  the  countess, he  had  tried  to 
se^nak  back  into  the  country  to  her.  ne  was  seen  by  one  of  his 
ex-loves  and  reported  to  the  police.  The  countess  i£  loyal  to 
him, though, and  settles  his  affairs  out  of  her  own  fortune.  This 
is  very  lovely, and  nrassac  is  filled  at  once  with  all  sorts  of 
new  plans. He  has  a little  paper  that  Jacques  ©an  sign. . . . Hut 
Jacques  is  through, and  the  pair  decide  to  go  to  Limoges, for 
Helene  has  had  just  about  enough  high  finance,  lo  the  play  ends. 

This  play  gives  us  a very  interesting  picture  of 
some  good  people  who  are  without  money  and  are  trying  to  get  it 


. 


, 


. 


44 


quickly  ana  unscrupulously,  nemesis  comes  justly, ana  they 
see  the  proper  way  out.  It  has  been  a rather  heart-racking 
lesson, though.  *he  irony, such  as  it  is, is  to  be  found  in  the 
realism  itself.  Y/he  racer  one  may  be  he  does  not  have  to  look 
far  for  this  type  of  family  for  as  Helene  says; ’’Tout  le  monde 
est  decave  a laris 28)  And  she  speaks  truer  than  she  thinks. 
The  existence  of  the  species  does  not  need  any  very  great  proof. 
These  people,  in  the  eyes  of  Capus, are  but  little  bet'cer  than 
social  parasites .with  their  petty  borrowing  and  underhanded 
methods  os?  making  money,  as  a result  he  shows  then  up  with  the 
strictest  realism  without  any  extenuation  whatever.  Perhaps, 
though, he  may  hold  a brief  for  Herbaut.who  has  the  best  of  in- 
tentions but  hasn’t  the  strength  to  live  up  to  them.  The  play 
is  an  accurate  and  unflattering  portrait  of  a definite  stratum 
of  Parisian  society, and  it  id  the  picture  of  a stratum  that 
Capus  does  not  think  ought  to  exist. 

A large  indictment  that  capus  has  of  the  "decave1!;  is 
that  in  his  need  he  takes  up  with  men  of  questionable  financial 
workings,as  did  our  friend  nerbaut.  vjrassac, the  rrench  parvenu, 
is  something  of  the  prototype  of  a once  very  popular  magazine 
hero  in  this  count ry, Wallingford. He  has  been  treated  in  a mere 
general  way  than  was  the  American, but  he  has  all  the  joviality 
and  good-fellowship  of  thata  amiable  crook.  Tith  the  increasing 
power  of  money  this  type  of  individual  has  become  more  and  more 
common, and  they  are  so  under  foot  nowadays  that  we  pay  no 
attention  to  them.  But  at  the  time  Capus  wrote  his  play  they 
were  not  so  common, since  to  put  one  of  them  on  the  stage  was 
considered  quite  a novelty.  Brassac  is  a human  enough  figure. 


45. 


and  we  can  not  help  feeling  a little  sympathetic  for  him  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  he  is  what  he  is.  For  Brassac  is  a de- 
classe--he  doesn't  fit  in.  He  started  from  very  humble  beginnings 
and  by  his  sharpness  and  foresight  has  come  into  a certain 
amount  of  money.  He  has  made  no  social  progress , though, and 
that  is  the  thing  that  he  wants  most  to  accomplish.  He  has  his 
automobiles , and  his  girls, and  his  ridiculous  built-in  bar, but  he 
is  not  happy.  He  must  gain  an  entrance  into  thejmonde.  That  is 
why  he  is  sportsman  enough  to  take  Herbaut  as  partner, in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  he  is  Penniless.  Jacques  can  do  the  thing  for  hir: 
that  he  could  never  do  himself, get  him  by  the  gates  of  that 
long-sought  land--”society" . xhen  his  little  world  will  be  com- 
plete. In  France, where  money-making  is  till  more  or  less  frowned 
upon  by  the  elite, this  seems  an  almost  impossible  thing, but  it 
is  just  such  people  as  the  Herbauts  that  are  responsible  for 
men  like  Brassac  getting  into  the  best  clubs  and  circles. The 
self-made  man  is  not  wanted. In  this  country  of  course  the  self- 
made  man  is  srery  desirable , the  moresself-raade  the  better. So, 
such  a man  as  Brassac, in  the  situation  that  we  see  him  in, may 
be  very  literally  done, but  at  the  same  time  there  must  be  some 
malice  in  the  portrayal , especially  when  he  comes  from  the  pen 
from  such  a self-sufficient  man  as  Capus. 

Another  character  that  gives  Capus  no  little  amusement 
is  the  sometime  mistress  of  Brassac, Pervenche. There  is  of  course 
the  direct  irony  of  the  life  that  she  is  leading, always  being 
betrayed  by  this  man  or  that  with  the  promise  of  marriage. Her 
lasting  hope  and  her  everlasting  denial .humourous  as  they  are, 
are  nevertheless  tragic  irony.  But  we  also  have  the  happy  irony 


46 


of  her  finding  of  her  first  love, Georges, as  an  attendant  in 
the  debtors’  prison.  But  there  is  also  a dig  at  the  society 
that  can  cause  the  existence  of  such  a person, this  perpetual 
plaything  of  men  to  be  cast  aside  as  soon  as  the  novelty  has 
worn  off  a bit.  She  is  humoured  a bit  by  the  happy  ending  that 
Gapus  has  given  her  affairs, but  that  may  possibly  be  laid  at 
the  door  of  his  sentimentality. 

-here  is  one  instance  in  the  play  where  Gapus  uses 
direct  satire  . i'hfet  is  in  the  burlesque  picture  of  a French 
debtors’  prison, with  its  extravagant  appointments  and  its 
college  trained  guards.  I know  nothing  about  French  prisons, but 
the  idea  may  be  an  attack  on  them, or  on  the  judiciary  for  its 
treatment  of  debtors.  At  any  rate  the  idea  is  amusing, even  to 
an  Angle-Saxon.  Andther  example  might  be  in  the  bar  of  Brassac. 
It  is  possible  thfet  this  is  an  attack  on  the  extravagant  bad 
taste  of  the  new-rich. 

-'echnically  the  play  might  be  improved, and  the  issues 
might  be  more  unified  than  they  are, for  the  play  is  more  a slice 
of  life  than  are  some  of  Gapus’  other  plays.  But  it  gets  across 
as  it  is, and  is  probably  far  smoother  in  presentation  than  it 
appears  in  a casual  reading,  -he  group  photographs  that  we  have 
here  are  delightful. 


, 


47. 

Chapter  VII. 

CONCLUSION. 

Emile  de  Saint-Auban, in  his  volume  on  the  theatre, 
has  a chapter  called  ,TLe  Sourire  de  1 anarchie,"in  which  he  calls 
Capus  a social  anarchist.  He  thinks  that  Car, us  is  a man  opposed 
to  existing  modes  and  manners, and  that  he  is  the  philosopher 
of  disorder. As  he  says: 

TtLe  stimulant  qui  pique  sa  fantaisis  est  la  haine  bien- 
veiiiante  , l’animosite  sans  fiel  qu’on  nomme:  la  vie  reg- 
uliere.  Cette  regularite',  t issee  par  les  codes, les  prejuges, 
serablent  a notre  ecrivain  la^pire  des  const itutions , et 
1'crdre  bourgeois  lui  apparait  comr.ie  le  plus  perilleux  des 
d^sordres” ( 29 ) 

And  this  author  goes  on  to  say  that  the  only  thing  that  can  com- 
fort Capus  for  this  state  of  things  is  a father-in-law  who 
does  not  care  a great  deal  for  custom, or  a virtuous  cocotte  like 
Mile.  Pervenche  who  has  lovers  but  is  looking  for  a husband, and 
who  is  very  superior  to  the  women  who  have  a husband  and  are 
looking  for  lovers. 

So  he  goes  about  upsetting  , for  himself  at  least, some 
of  the  established  codes  of  conduct  and  deriving  a great  deal  of 
pleasure  from  this  exercise.  He  is  never  militant  in  his  warfare, 
if  such  it  be, but  is  rather  like  a cat  that  caresses  you  as  it 
scratches.  But  the  scratch  is  never  very  deep. For  his  method  is 
largely  that  of  irony, as  we  see, from  character  and  situation. He 
is  restive  and  the  ordinary, though  it  may  have  its  problems, 
holds  no  interest  for  hiip.  And  he  is  restive  with  more  than  a 
single  order  of  things, for  he  has  something  th  say  against  the 
provinces  as  well  as  the  metropolis.  He  can  paint  a French 
"Main  street" , as  he  did  in  Kosine,or  he  can  turn  his  guns  on 


48. 

the  city  as  he  did  in  hes  Favorites  or  La  Bourse  ou  la  vie. 

He  was  transplanted  to  the  city  while  young  and  set  about  getting 
as  much  of  its  spirit  as  he  could.  He  did  this  consciously , how- 
ever, and  as  he  acquired  the  tang  of  the  boulevards  he  was  still 
enough  of  his  original  self  to  be  abletprobably, to  look  at  things 
rather  coldly  and  see  all  their  faults  and  shortcomings.  He 
followed  his  inclinations , though, and  asma  result  he  has  great 
deal  of  the  spirit  of  the  city  in  him.  But  because  he  did  what 
he  did  so  consciously, and  used  his  earlier  standards  as  a basis 
of  comparison, he  has  retained  even  today  much  of  his  provincial 
nature.  As  a result  he  has  a way  of  looking  at  his  subject 
from  two  angles.  The  opinions  of  either  of  his  natures  are  not 
hard  and  fast  ones  of  either  of  the  environments  from  which 
he  drew  them, but  rather  a synthesis  of  the  two.  He  sees  the  bad 
of  both  sources  and  points  it  out  accordingly.  This  is  a very  s 
strange  faculty, and  it  has  been  reached  through  a certain  mind, 
which  in  turn  may  be  due  to  his  earlier  scientific  training. 

So  Capus  is  a painter  of  the  disorganisation  of  France 

as  he  sees  it.  M.  de  Saint-Auban  goes  on  to  say: 

"11  peint  si  gentiment  notre  disorganisation  qui,peut-etre, 

est  le  point  de  depart  d une  organisation  nouvellei 

II  a la  decomposition  airaable  et,avec  lui,on  s'abandonne 
aux  douceurs  d'un  irrespect  qui  ne  sied  pas  trop  mal  au 
desarr&is  de  notre  decadence  ou  les  principes  ne  sont  plus 
a la  mode,ou  les  lois  font  mine  de  devenir  des  prejuges 
et  ou  il  n‘y  a guere  plus,en  somme, que  1‘imprevu  qui 
arrive. . . ."(30) 

So  he  is  something  of  an  anarchist.  Hot  the  bomb  throwing  variety, 
but  rather  the  parlor  sort, who  amuse  themselves  much  with  their 
new  theories  on  manners , customs , and  ins titut ions , but  are  too 
lazy  and  inactive  to  actually  pa^rctice  what  they  preach.  They 


49. 


are  more  interested  in  theory  for  itself  than  in  any  practical 
reform,  '-‘•'hey  dwell  in  the  land  of  the  dread  hypothesis.  Gapus 
sees  that  the  times  are  changing, hut  is  more  interested  in 
guessing  as  to  which  way  they  will  turn  rather  than  in  trying  to 
direct  their  turning.  And  he  is  too  much  of  the  cynic  to  take  it 
very  seriously. 

^e  is  interested  rather  in  taking  individaal  cases 
$nd  phenomena  and  examining  them  and  exhibiting  them  under  his 
own  microscope  for  what  they  are  worth.  ]?or, after  all, he  is 
just  a dramatist  who  designs  to  amuse, and  does  so  although  his 
work  is  tinctured  with  his  own  peculiar  self, which  is  the  pro- 
duct of  two  almost  opposed  environments.  And  he  does  amuse  us. 

"Joiis  traits , scenes  curieuses , observations  aigues  qui 
dessinent  gentiment  les  coins  de  la  societe , voila  bien, 
n'estSce  pas , 1 ‘ habituel  bagage  de  M.  Alfred  uapus,le  plus 
gai,le  plus  souriant.le  plus  leger  des  anarchist es ... sinon 
le  raoins  dangereux ,T  (31). 

But  it  is  to  be  doubted  if  one  gains  many  converts  with  sar- 
donic laughter. 

THE  END. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Alfred  Capus: 


Brignol  et  sa  fille 

Paris 

1894 

Rosine 

T? 

1897 

Le  Maris  de  Leontine 

T? 

1900 

La  Bourse  ou  la  vie 

TT 

rr 

La  Veine 

TT 

1901 

La  Petite  Fonct ionnaire 

Tf 

r» 

Les  Leux  Ecoles 

T? 

1902 

Les  Favorites 

?? 

1911 

Henrik  Ibsen 

The  ¥1151  buck  Hew  York  1915 


REFERENCES 


I.  J3ooks: 


1.  Barret  H. Clark 

Contemporary  French  Dramatists 

Cincinnati 

1915 

2. Frank  ¥a$leigh  Chandler 

Contemporary  Drama  of  France 

Hew  York 

3. Encyclopedia  Britanniea  (gdition  11) 

t*  TT 

1911 

4. Irving  Babbitt 

Rousseau  and  Romanticism 

Boston 

1919 

5. Frank  Eadleigh  Chandler 

aspects  of  the  Modern  Drama 

Lev;  York 

1914 

6.  Antoine  ^enoist 

De  Tha|etre  d ' au jourd 1 hui  v.2 

Paris 

1912 

7. Emile  de  Saint-Auban 

L’Idee  sociale  au  theatre 

?? 

1901 

Magazines : 

1.  Hew  Republic  v.18  pp.220 

Hew  York 

1917 

50 


FOOTNOTES  • 

1.  Clark:  Contemporary  French  Dramatists  p.137 

2.  Chandler:  Contemporary  Drama  of  France  p.122 

g tt  »*  n m tt  rt 

4. Clark:  Contempoarary  French  dramatists  p.137 
5* "Irony” — Encyclopedia  Britannica 

6. Babbitt:  Rousseau  and  Romanticism  p.263 

7.  « " " " p.265 

8*New  Republic  vl8  p.220 

g tt  tt  tt  tt 

10.”  ” ” " 


on. 


11. Clark:  Contemporary 

French  Dramatists 

p.  150 

12.Benoist ; 

xheatre  d ' 

aujourd  * hui 

p.  5 

l3.Brignol 

et  sa  fille 

p.  117 

14.Rosine 

Ac t II, S 

cene  8 

p.  138 

15.  " 

T* 

" 6 

p.  123 

16.  " 

Act  IV 

" 11 

p.313 

17. Clark:  Contemporary 

French  Dramatists 

p.  142 

18. La  veine 

Act  I, Scene  <jr 

p.33 

19 . " " 

TT 

" 6 

p.  54 

20. Haris  de 

Leontine 

Act  I, Scene  6 

p.ll 

21.  " " 

TT 

Act  II  " 17 

p.  135 

4? 

X 

22.Les  Deux 

Bcoles 

Act  I , Scene  11 

p.  72 

23.  " 

TT 

Act  III, Scene  4 

p. 226- 

7 

34.  TT 

TT 

Act  I , Scene  5 

p.33 

25. She  Hi Id 

Luck 

Act  V 

p.  372 

26.  Chandler:  Contemporary  Drama  of  Prance  p.122 

27.  La  Petite  Ffcnct ionnaire  Act  Il.^cene  16  p.  159 

28.  La  Bourse  ou  la  vie  Act  I,  Scene  2 p.5 

29.St-Auban: L'  Idee  Sociale  au  tlfatre  p.197-8 

30.  " " TT  " " p.201-2 

31.  " " " " " p. 206 


